


A Jedi in Hiding

by FandomRegina



Category: Star Wars Rebels
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2019-08-08 05:05:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 34,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16422953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomRegina/pseuds/FandomRegina
Summary: Ezra Bridger. Son of Mira and Ephraim Bridger. Born 15 years ago today.But once a Sith, always A Sith.Right?





	1. Chapter 1

"Hey, kids gotta eat." As he fake salutes to the man, putting his backpack back on, he jumps from thing to thing to get to the roof. He starts to run, wanting to get away from the main square, he feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He changes his direction from going to his tower to an area near the blasters that the Empire was transporting that day. He gets on his stomach, looking over to a man wearing green. He has a blaster, a ponytail, and what he believes is a two-piece lightsaber. He reaches out to the man, trying to see what he's doing, but quickly ducks as the man turns around. He stays low to the building and when he feels the man's eyes off of him, he looks back up and sees him pass a Lasat and another human, a female. He sees her reach into her pocket and pull out a bomb.

Too curious to move, he makes sure that he is far enough that the bomb won't affect him.

As she walks by a speeder, she throws the bomb on to the speeder. A stormtrooper is about to call out to her but stops as he hears the beeping of the bomb, which is getting faster. It goes off with a loud boom. "Get those crates out of here! Keep them secure at all costs!" He watches as the stormtroopers, three, hurries off with the crates, "All costs, huh? I like the sound of that." He follows them, sensing the male is going to block them off. He watches from the edge of the building as he sees a car pull up. "How's it goin'?" The man kicks one of the troopers and shoots the other. He ducks as the other trooper start shooting at him and begin an almost like 'duel' between the two. As backup comes, the Lasat comes from a door and grabs a trooper and throws it at the other and does it again with the last two. When all of them are knocked out, the man stands from his position, smirking. The kid jumps from the building, using a metal pole to land on one of the three speeders. The man looks at him with an agape mouth.

"Thanks for doing the heavy lifting!" He fake salutes again, as he starts to back up, dodging a punch the Lasat was aiming at him, cheekily smiling as he waves to the two.

"Now what?"

"A-after that kid!"

As he backs up, he knocks out three more troopers and dodges an imperial trying to grab him. He hears the hum of two more speeders behind him as he speeds up. After a minute, he feels the girl up on one of the rooftops. When he feels her jump, he moves over to the left, making her miss the crate. He looks back at her and feels her surprise; and a little bit of anger. He looks forward as sees a group of troopers. He speeds up and pulls out his blaster, easily shooting all four of them before the man behind him can even get his blaster out. He puts his blaster back in his holster and mumbles,

"Who are these guys?" He makes a sharp left turn, yelping a little, trying not to hit any of the yelling citizens crowding the streets.

"Who is that kid?" The man mumbles as he gets away from the crowded streets.

As the speed out of Capital City, two stormtroopers on speakers are behind the man and the Lasat. They start to shoot them with the bikes guns but end up missing the two and hit the kids speeder. "That's never good!" He loses control, quickly turning to the left, jumping the streets separator, and dodges two cars coming at him; the two crates still attached to his speeder. He hears blaster shots them a bomb, coming to the conclusion that the man and Lasat were able to get rid of the two. He looks to the right, seeing the man look at him, and he looks forward again, speeding up. He hears the man slow down and detach the crates and then speeds back up. He knows exactly what the man is doing.

He sees the speeder jump the gap and land in front of him, sending sparks of the metal into his eyes. He slows down and pulls the speeder so it's doing sideways. It stops a foot away from the man's speeder. He looks him right in the eye.

"Who are you?" He says, voice hard and emotionless.

"I'm the guy who's stealing those crates."

"Well," he chuckles, "I got news for you buddy. I stole these blasters, fair and square." He senses the incoming TIE and ready his speeder to leave.

"And you got pretty far. But I got plans for that crate. So today's not your day."

"As do I, Jedi. And, well, the day's not over." He winks as he pulls away. The man looks at him, surprised, but then rolls his eyes.

"Oh, wonderful." He quickly jumps from the speeder, finally hearing the TIE. As his speeder turns into ash, he hears the speeder and sees the kid.

"Have a good one." He waves. The man smiles and shakes his head, thinking this is one cocky kid. He pulls out a com.

"This is Specter 1, I need a lift."

~+~+~+~+~

As the kid leaves the road, he makes a sharp right turn towards the hills he hears the scream of a TIE behind him and starts going in a zigzag, making sure he doesn't get hit. As he hears another ship approaching, the TIE blows up, a cloud of smoke in its wake. He looks behind him, four TIEs incoming and a cargo ship behind him, the man standing on the ramp. He meets the man's eyes and glares at him. He turns his head back towards the hills and speeds up, getting the cloaking device out of his pocket, attaching it to the speeder and dismantling the tracking device. Turning it on, and stopping the speeder, he hears the ship pull up, the ties chasing after it, not seeing his speeder anymore. He smirks.

"Now, let's go store these babies." He says to himself.

He takes the blaster rifles to the side of a mountain where there is a rock with a faint looking cut out. As he concentrates, the cutout begins to move towards him, then to the side. The 'door' is about five feet wide and seven feet tall. He easily pushes the speeder bike and crates inside and 'closes' the 'door'. He finds a small switch near the hole and turns on all of the lights, seeing all the crates of medical supplies, food, weapons, etc. in the large room. He detaches the crates and pushes them towards the weapons area, and the speeder bike towards the, well, bike area.

He goes to the small area with blankets and pillows on the floor, only a single light in the small room. He sits down and begins to meditate, concentrating on the feeling he had when he saw the man, and focusing on his energy. He begins to see the space of a cockpit of the ship he saw the man in. He sees a green twi'lek and the man. He concentrates harder and hears what they're saying.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you did that on purpose."

"If you knew any better, we wouldn't be in this situation. Seriously Kanan, what happened?"

"Some kid."

"Some kid?"

"Yes, 'Some kid'. He stole a speeder with two crates of blasters."

"Must be Some kid. Spill it."

"Aren't you a little busy?"

"Spill." She says, glaring at the man. Kanan throws his hands up, defeated.

"Fine. This kid jumped down from the roof. He landed on a speeder bike. He stole it and got away. Zeb tried to punch him, he blocked it and Sabine tried to get the jump on him, but he made sure she didn't even touch the crate. He shot down four troopers before I could even get my blaster out and was able to avoid the TIE fighter and get away with both crates. There. Spilled. Happy?"

"Kid sounds impressive." Kanan turns his chair towards her, disbelief all over his face.

"You're not thinking what I think you're thinking." He says accusingly.

"He held on to a crate, no two crates, of blasters with a pack of troopers on his tail and a TIE, and has mysteriously disappeared."

"Because we were there to save him! He's a street rat. He's wild, reckless, dangerous, and gone with two crates of our blasters."

"Sabine?" Hera says, finger on the ships main intercom button.

"Yeah, Hera?"

"See if you can figure out where the kid went. Track his heat signature or something."

"After we're not about to be shot down."

"Please. And the shields are holding, but you need to buy me time to calculate the jump to light speed."

"Buyin' time. Now!" He looks out the cockpit window as the Twi'lek, Hera, is calculating the jump. Kanan, using the cockpit's cannon shoots down a TIE and he sees the girl down below.

She jumps into the seat, taking hold of the cannon below the cockpit.

"Calculation's complete, but I need an opening!"

"Found one!"

The girl, Sabine, shoots down a TIE and Hera makes the jump to hyperspace.

Ezra's eyes open, he quickly grabs his backpack and takes the back way out of his cave. He gets his hidden bike and travels to his tower as fast as he can before the girl can track his heat signature.

As he puts his bike near the side of his tower, he takes the elevator up and walks into his 'room'. Inside is a table, a bunk bed sort of thing, and trooper helmets. As he sits on his bed, he goes back into his meditative state, going back to the ship. They had exited hyperspace when he sees the girl in the common room, looking at a pad.

"Ok, so it says here that he's in a communications tower on the outskirts of Capital City. From what I can tell, it was abandoned years ago." She looks up at Kanan, and he puts his hand on his chin, thinking.

"Well, he would've had plenty of time to hide them, so we'll all go after we're finished with Vizago and Tarkintown. Meet at the Ghost after sundown and we'll leave. And Zeb, no attacking the kid or zapping him, Chopper." The Lasat, which he believes is Zeb, and Chopper the droid, groan and let out beeps of frustration.

As they return from giving food to the people of Tarkintown, and Kanan and Hera selling the blasters to Vizago, they fly over to the tower. Ezra exits his meditative state and 'returns' to his tower, waiting for them to enter. He walks over to his makeshift desk and works on the lightsaber he has been building for the last month after finding the temple on Lothal. When the door opens, he sees Kanan, Hera, Sabine, and Zeb.

"Where's Chopper?" He turns towards the group, his eyebrow raised.

"Excuse me?" Hera asks suspiciously.

"Where is Chopper. I thought he was coming with you guys to find the crates of blasters I stole. Well, honestly, it's not my problem." He turns back to the cylinder, fitting small wires and pieces into the core of the blade, the crystal already inside. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Zeb move towards him, growling, but Kanan sticks out his hand and walks towards him.

"That's a fancy weapon you got there. What is it?"

"Oh, don't do that with me. You know very well what it is, Dume." Kanan looks at him, fear and surprise in his eyes, but they quickly turn to anger. Kanan doesn't move, but Ezra hears a shift of fabric and the click of a blaster. No, two blasters. He pulls one of them from their owner's hand with the force, examining the colorful blaster. Hera still has hers aimed at him as she shifts her eyes over to Kanan in worry. Zeb just stands there, knowing if he did pull out his rifle, he would shoot the kid. So, he didn't. At least, not yet.

"Well, aren't you a ways from home, Sabine? Mando armor and guns." He whistles. "And no wonder you left the imperial academy, it's nothing but white. And, well, you know, weapons." He says, looking up at her as she flinches at the last word.

"Give it back!" He throws the blaster back at her.

"If you're looking for the crates, you won't find them here."

"That's what we were counting on. Chopper, have you found them?" Hera says, although blaster still aimed at Ezra, presses a button on her COM. A series of beeps the reply. "What do you mean it's nothing but rock?" Ezra laughs.

"I told you, won't find 'em. Now, if you excuse me..." He goes back to working in his lightsaber. As three of the four leave, Kanan telling them to give him a chance to talk to the kid. Kanan and Ezra are there in silence before Kanan speaks.

"How do you know?" Ezra shrugs. Kanan sighs, knowing he won't get anything out of the boy. So, he takes something from his pocket and places the blue cube on the desk.

"Open it."

"No. I'm not going to open your stupid Holocron."

"Why?"

"Don't wanna."

"What's your name?"

"What's it matter to you."

"What is your name."

"Ezra. Ezra Bridger."

"Mines-"

"Kanan Jarrus. I know. Or Caleb Dume."

"Open it," Kanan says with more of a growl, his patience lowering. Ezra looks at him.

"Why?"

"Why not?" Ezra sighs.

"Fine." As he concentrates on the cube, he feels it open, a message playing.

"This is Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic, have fallen with a dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi. Trust in The Force. Do not return to the Temple...that time has passed. And our future is uncertain. We will each be challenged. Our trust. Our faith. Our friendships. But we must persevere. And in time, a new hope will emerge. May the Force be with you, always."

"There. I opened your stupid cube. Now, leave. And no, I won't join you. And I'm...sorry about you're master." Ezra looks down at his lightsaber, not meeting Kanan's eyes.

"How do you know about her?" Kanan questions.

"The force?" Kanan sighs, but nods.

"Keep it." He says, nodding towards the Holocron. "And that's fine. But, if you ever need us, give us a call. And he sets down a Holopad and leaves, leaving Ezra in the dark, with only a single light on. He picks up the Holocron and sees what he can learn what he doesn't already know.


	2. Chapter 2

Empire day. The best day of the year.

Mmmmm. Well. Not so much.

As he sat meditating, a Loth-cat had somehow gotten inside his cave and is now sleeping on Ezra. He can't do anything. The rule is if an animal is sleeping on you, you can't disturb it unless it gets off you or something insanely bad is about to happen. Unfortunately, it's the latter. He has been keeping an eye on Kanan and the Ghost crew, making sure they didn't get into too much trouble. As he lifted the cat carefully off him, he went to grab his blaster, a few bombs, and his lightsaber. As he jumped onto his speeder, a modified one, he turns on the cloaking device and speeds towards Capital City. He hides his bike in an alleyway as he goes towards the celebration.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

As the Ghost crew runs up to the parade, the walkers and troopers walking in a straight line, Minister Tua and a TIE fighter piolet are standing at the very front of it on a platform.

"Ok. Let's start the celebration." Kanan says, smirking,

"Copy that. Commencing festivities" Sabine replies, walking away with Zeb on her tail. Minister Tua starts to speak, her image up on the screen. She goes on about how Governor Pryce sends her regrets and how she was invited to Coruscant to celebrate with Emperor Palpatine himself as the imperials near the citizens make them clap. Many people look towards the modified TIE fighter that's coming into view.

"Lothal is just as important to our empire as any world in the galaxy, and she wanted me to show you why. Citizens, I present you with the latest vessel in Lothal's imperial shipyard, the Sienar Systems advanced TIE starfighter"  
Upon the big screen, which had Minister Tua, now shows a new TIE defender that, instead of box-like wings, they are curved. Hera begins to clap along with everybody else.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Kanan looks back at her, smiling.

"Yeah, I almost feel bad about blowing it up." She leans towards him, crossing her arms.

"I sense we'll need to make a quick exit." She nods. As they separate, Hera going back to the Ghost, Kanan goes over to the TIE. Well, not directly, of course. He would wind up dead. He goes through crowds of people to a small area with gone trooper so he can sneak over there.

"And who better to take this beauty on her maiden voyage than one of the best Imperial pilots on Lothal—Baren Valen Rudor!" AsSabine and Zeb come from a side alley, Sabine hands him a bomb.

"Ok, when I say "now", throw this as high as you can."

As it starts to beep, Zeb becomes nervous.

"Ok. Now?"

The beeping gets faster.

"Now?"

It gets faster.

He looks down at it, nervous.

It makes a series of beeps.

"Now." She says, pointing at him. When he throws it up, it turns into fireworks. The people at the celebration start to clap, marveling at the colors. As it begins to die down, she gives him another one. "Another?"

"Don't mind if I do." As Zeb throws another one, the crowd continues to cheer. Ezra, who had been watching the two while also watching Kanan, catches him sneaking over to the TIE, placing a bomb on it while the stormtroopers are distracted. He quickly runs over there. He hides in the crowd, being able to see Kanan as the stormtrooper begins to point his blaster at the man.

"You there." Kanan freezes. "This area is off limits."

"Did you see it?" Kanan points at the sky, diverting the stormtroopers attention as he shifts his footing."It's soooo beautiful. All the colors! It's like a... like a rainbow." He says as if he is drunk. He reaches for his blaster when Ezra comes up behind the trooper.

"Dad! What are you doing." He stands between the trooper and Kanan, shifting the blaster away from him with his hand. "Sorry mister, my dad's just so patriotic, ya know?" He points over to Kanan with his thumb, who has walked up behind him, making an embarrassed face as Kanan keeps up the act.

"Empire Day! I love it. All hail our glorious Empire." Kanan says, exaggerating. Ezra shrugs, the face of a child being embarrassed by their parent.

"Right, well... move along." He steps over to the side, letting them pass. When the two are a good distance away, Kanan looks over at him.

"Thanks. Why are you here?"

"Thought you could use my help. And who doesn't love an Empire Day celebration? What are you guys doing here?" He asks as if he doesn't know. Kanan chuckles.

"Just watch." He nods his head over to the TIE subtly and Ezra smiles. "What do we need your help with, anyway?" Before Ezra can answer, the bomb goes off, creating chaos and knocking the pilot, the commandant who was standing to the left of the Minister, and the Minster over.  
As people begin to scream, Zeb laughs and Sabine starts to lead them away from the chaos to where they are to meet with Kanan. As they meet up with Kanan, running, they see Ezra not too far behind him.

"Nice of you to join us kid," Zeb says.

"Hey, where were you?" Sabine says between breaths. Ezra chuckles.

"Why. Did you miss me?"

"Yeah right." Zeb snickers. Ezra begins to slow down, eyes narrowing. Kanan senses this and stops, turning around to him. They all stop, looking back at the fire, seeing Kallus. Zeb grabs his blaster.

"Been spoiling to finish things with Kallus." He aims his blaster at him. Ezra turns to Kanan, speaking quickly.

"Remember when you asked me "What do we need your help with?" It's him." Ezra puts his hand on Zeb's shoulder.

"Hey, you wanna take someone out, take out that guy." He says, pointing over to the blown up TIE to a man with red markings on his face.

"Why?"

"Because I said so!"

Although Zeb groans in frustration, he aims his blaster at the man, and he shoots twice, hitting the TIE.

As the man exits the flames, and a trooper flying out from beside him from not being able to escape the blast, he looks over to the group, who starts to run from the chaos. Ezra turns his head as the Inquisitor narrows his eyes. They lock eyes and the Inquisitor smiles evilly. Ezra turns away and follows the group. As they finally find a little more quiet place, Kanan pulls out his COM.

"Specter-2, we're en route to the rendezvous."

"Negative, Specter-1. The streets are blocked. I cannot—repeat— cannot reach the rendezvous." Kanan stops, frowning. Ezra turns around.

"I know a place we can hole up till things calm down— But "shoulders" here might have a problem taking my route."

"Then we need another option."

"Nah, it's fine," Zeb says, grabbing his com.

"Specter-2, can you make it to the Old Market?"

"Affirmative."

"I'm on my way." As he begins to climb up the building, Kanan calls out, "Get back to the Ghost."

"Follow me." Ezra waves his hand towards himself, signaling for them to follow.

"We'll signal a new rendezvous when we can!" He calls after Zeb as he begins to run with Ezra and Sabine. As they run into alleyways, doing the best they can to avoid troopers, Ezra brings them to an old building.

"That's an Imperial warning declaring this building is off-limits. What is this place?"  
Ezra grabs a key from his pocket, hesitating, before he slides it, opening the door.

"This was you're home, wasn't it? Where you grew up?" Ezra looks at him from the corner of his eye.

"Sort of." He shrugs as he opens the door a little more, entering. As Kanan and Sabine enter, Kanan shuts the door behind him. He circles the room, his fingertips roaming the dusty surfaces from years of disuse. Sabine takes off her helmet as Kanan and her share a glance.

"Ezra?" Kanan says, grabbing his attention. Ezra hums in question, exploring the abandoned house. "What are we doing here?" Ezra smiles.

"Because I have somebody here who might help your... Rebellion." As he walks over to a circular item, he moves it to the side. "Hey, Tseebo. It's me, Ezra. Come on out." Sabine and Kanan stare incredulously at the green Rodian that comes out of the hole in the floor.

"Is that-"

"Yeah. It's a cybernetic circuit. Personality's sacrificed for productivity."

"Tseebo's production is 19% than Imperial data worker."  
Kanan looks at Ezra. "That's the Rodian the Imperials are after. You know him?"

"Yeah. A friend of my parents."

"Uh huh," Kanan says, knowing there's more to it, but not pushing.

"Sabine," Ezra says, getting her attention. "Can you access it?

"I... I can try. Give me a few minutes."

"Alright. I'll be back." Ezra begins to climb down the hole. As he leaves, Kanan looks over at Sabine.

"I think there's something more to this than we know."

"What do you mean?" Kanan sighs.

"I mean... he knows something we don't. There's something...more to Ezra. I want to figure out what that is." He looks towards the hole.

"Go ask him." Kana sighs and shakes his head.

"Fine. But if I end up dead, it's your fault."

"If he wanted to kill either of us by now, I think he would've done it." Before he can climb down the hole, he hears Tseebo start to speak again.

"Ezra Bridger. Son of Mira and Ephraim Bridger. Born 15 years ago today."

Kanan looks at Sabine. She looks at him, sad.

"Today's Empire Day. Oh, it's... Ezra's birthday..." She looks down before starting to work on the circuit again. Kanan walks over to the hole, hesitating, before climbing down. When he turns around, Ezra is on the ground... meditating?

_**Literally less than 5 minutes ago *flashback*** _

As Ezra slides down the hole, he turns around, walking over to the transmitter. He pulls out the data-disk when he starts to hear his father's voice from a conversation he heard long ago.

"Tseebo, we must speak out, even if it causes us our lives."

"Dad?" Ezra whispers, upset. He holds the transmitter tighter, his knuckles white.

"Tseebo not fight battle Tseebo know cannot be won. Neither should Bridgers. Tseebo says you must think of your son."

"He's all we think about!" His father says, angered.

"We are fighting for our son's freedom." His mother says, quietly.

"Mom." Ezra drops to his knees, the tears that had formed when the conversation had started finally fall.

"We're teaching Ezra to stand up for people in need."

"The risk you Bridgers take..." The connection is cut off when Ezra hears footfalls come from the ladder. He straightens his back and wipes the tears from his face to make it look as if he was meditating. Thankfully, he was facing away from the ladder. While doing so, he pockets the disk.

"Hey, Ezra. Sabine accessed the circuit. Want to come to look?"

He swallows, trying not to let his voice crack.

"Ye-eah. I'll... be there in a minute." His voices cracks. Damn it.

He doesn't move until he knows Kanan is back upstairs.

**_~~~time skip. They got Tseebo safe aboard the Ghost. Ezra wasn't with them when they did, he took on Kallus instead of Kanan. He escaped and went back to his tower, not his cave.~~~_ **

As he enters the tower he sits on the makeshift bed cross-legged, the disk in his right hand. He meditates. He sees the large room that was once his kitchen and family room. The kitchen table is in front of him and the secret basement is to his left. He watches the memory like a movie, except this time he can see his parents and Tseebo have the conversation. He sees a younger version of himself sitting at the table with his parents and Tseebo stands by the houses front door. His younger self just asked if he could do the broadcasts' with his parents and they told him no. Blast, how he hates those things.

"Ezra Bridger, Mira, and Ephriam Bridger are correct. You are too young to do these broadcasts."

"Thank you, Tseebo," Mira says, looking towards the Rodian. Ezra watches as he walks into the house, letting the door slide shut.

"Tseebo also believes Mira and Ephraim should not do these broadcasts." Ephraim sighs.

"Tseebo, we've talked about this." Ezra's father says, voice low in a warning tone.

"Ezra, honey, go to your room while the grown-ups talk," Mira speaks. Ezra watches as he nods, getting off his chair and walks towards his room. Ezra watches as he sneaks back towards the main room after he shut his door without going into his bedroom to hear his parents and Tseebo arguing in quiet voices. Although Ezra didn't see them talking that time, he does now. His mother is upset, knowing that she might have to separate them before they fight and his father is standing.

"Tseebo, you know what the Empire is doing to the people here! You've seen it! We thought they would come here and help us. We asked them to come here! But all they have done so far is exhaust our resources and make it harder to grow food!" Ephraim says, his voice desperate, wanting Tseebo to understand.

"Tseebo," his mother speaks up. "We must speak out, even if it causes us our lives."

"Tseebo not fight battle Tseebo know cannot be won. Neither should Bridgers. Tseebo say you must think of your son."

"He's all we think about!" His father says, angered. Ezra nearly jumps when he sees his father almost slam his hand on the table, but stops before it reaches it. He quietly puts it on the table. He puts the other hand beside it and sighs, bending over.

"We are fighting for our son's freedom." Mira states.

"We're teaching Ezra to stand up for people in need," Ephraim says, sitting back down.

"The risk you Bridgers take..." And with that, Tseebo leaves, and Ezra's parents are left in silence.

"Mira... What if he's right?" Ephraim asks his wife, looking back up, concerned.

"What do you mean?" She questions, eyebrows furrowing.

"What if... What if Tseebo is right? What if something happens to us? What will happen to Ezra?"

"We'll just have to be more careful, Ephraim. We have to make sure Ezra is safe for now and if something happens, if, something happens, we'll just have to make sure Ezra stays safe." Knowing what his parents were about to do, he moves forward, hoping the vision will allow him to listen to them. It does.

"But what if they find out, Mira?"

"Then we do our best to protect him." Ezra looks to the left, watching the past version of himself fall with a thump. He watches as his parents stop talking and loud sigh is heard from his mother. "Ezra, honey, you can come out now." Ezar stands up and walks into the room, his eyes downcast. He walks towards his mother, who picks him up, and places him on her lap. He hides his face in her shoulder and Ezra nearly laughs at the way he acts. He would never do that today. "Ezra, you know how much we love you, right?"

Ezra watches as he lets out a muffled, "yes," wrapping his arms around his mother. Mira rubs his back, trying to comfort him.

"We love you very much, but we also want you to stay as safe as possible." His father speaks.

"We would never leave you voluntarily, Ezra. But we need you to start understanding that the world isn't as good as you." The vision nearly freezes as his mother looks towards him. He begins to panic. She shouldn't be able to see him. "You need to help those in need, Ezra. Remember that. Please. Even when you know it won't end well for you. Help them, Ezra."

Ezra opens his eyes, throwing the disk on the floor. Ezra was always confused as to why she said that to him back then. Now he knows why. But he stands, walking out of the room, shaking his head.

"No. I'm not helping them. Those... He... no. I'm not helping them."

But he knows he's just trying to convince himself about something he knows isn't true. He knows from deep down, from what his parents taught him, that he must help the Ghost crew. He knows that he has to help those in need. Fight for those who can't fight for themselves. Even if they can, they might wind up dead. He knows that the inquisitor is coming for Kanan. For one of the last Jedi of the order. And for him. To make him pay for leaving. Ezra knows what he has to do, and he hopes Kanan doesn't kill him from it, because he may.


	3. Chapter 3

"And halt!" As the group of cadets comes to a stop, they turn towards the two men, their commanders.

"Squad LRC-077 for your inspection, sir!" Taskmaster Grint says to Commandant Aresko.

"Cadets, you entered this facility as children. And in a few short weeks, you will leave as soldiers. By the time you complete your training, you will be prepared to serve your Emperor. Today, we will test your strength and resolve. Are you ready to become stormtroopers?"

"Sir, yes sir!" All of the cadets say in unison.

"At ease." As some of the cadets, like Jai Kell, with blue on his helmet, and Zare Leonis, with yellow on his, remove their helmets, Ezra removes his too, which has red on it. They are part of the top four. Well, he can't exactly say his name is Ezra, now. As he looks at his helmet, flashbacks of his previous time in the academy come back to him. He hears a faint whisper of his new name.

"-v. Dev. Hey Dev. Dev Morgan, you in there." He feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see Jai.

"What. Yeah, oh yeah. Dev Morgan's in here Alright. Th-That's me..." He rotates his helmet nervously.

"Wow. You must really be feeling the pressure."

"Sorry, Jai. Who's under pressure?" He playfully elbows the boy. "Not the guy who's won every assessment." Jai starts to playfully fight back.

"Yeah, but today I can taste victory."

"You said that yesterday and went hungry." As they start to laugh, they feel the floor move.

"Woah!" The cadets are caught off-guard as some of them lose their footing. Aresko starts to speak.

"Cadets, you are descending into the Well... and must climb out with all deliberate speed." The Well has stopped moving and is at least twenty feet below from where it was previously. "For the top three winners, you will be given the honor of serving as aides in Imperial headquarters. Those who lose will be serving Taskmaster Grint... and wished they'd stayed at the bottom of that well."

"I'm taking that prize," Jai says, pointing towards himself. One of the cadets with green on his helmet shoves him. Ezra catches him before he could fall.

"Not today, Kell." 

"Back off, Oleg." Ezra blocks a grab from him with his arm. He was the fourth person part of the top four.

"You too, Morgan. You're both going down."

"Actually," He says, shaking off Oleg's hand, "We're going up." As they begin to fight, Taskmaster Grint starts to countdown.

"The assessment begins in four, three, two..." The cadets quickly put on their helmets and get ready.

"How exactly are we going up?" Jai says.

"One!" The squares in the Well begin to move and float, creating moving pathways so they can climb up.

"There's your answer, Jai." Ezra runs to the nearest platform, jumping on it. He jumps from platform to platform, working his way up.

"See you at the top!"

"Yes, you will!" Jai says, beginning to work his way up. "From below!"As the other cadets start to follow what Ezra and Jai were doing, Ezra quickly jumps from platform to platform, sensing the quickest way up. A risky move, but he has to be in the top three.

"Failure is not acceptable. This Empire has no use for weakness." Commandant Aresko says. One of the cadets looks up at him but yells as the platform shocks him, sending him to a lower part of the well. Ezra jumps to platforms that haven't even come out of the wall, the pathway like a staircase. The platforms give out waves of electricity, but don't shock him because he is already on the next platform. After about four, he can stand on one that won't shock him.

"Morgan, how do you do it?" Jai says, making sure he doesn't stay on one for too long.

"It's like you know the platforms coming before they're there!"

"What can I say?" He says, jumping one up before it comes out before he falls and two more up. The platforms had barely moved before he did. "It's a gift!" "Morgan's impressive. Perhaps too impressive. Make note of that." Aresko says to Grint quietly, making sure none of the cadets hear him. Ezra helps Jai up onto a platform. He senses Oleg advancing behind them and takes Jai's arm.

"You lose, Morgan."

"Jai, look out!" He pulls Jai with him to an oncoming platform, making Oleg miss them. He falls to the lowest platform. Ezra opens his mask, smiling at Oleg. He gives him a salute mockingly and jumps to the top. Once he reaches the main level, he helps Jai up. They are both breathing hard.

"First again!"

"Yeah. Well, I'll get you tomorrow."

"You said that yesterday too." Ezra smiles. He hears a slow clap from in front of him and loses his smile.

"Quite a finish, cadets. It seems this trial was too easy. Morgan, Kell, you both set course records." Ezra looks at Jai from the corner of his eye. He is helping up the third place cadet. "And, um... is it... Leonis." 

"Sir, yes sir!" The cadet straightens up and takes off his helmet.

"Congratulations, you three are today's winners. But rest assured, your trial will be a great challenge. Follow." Aresko starts to walk off, leading the three to Imperial HQ. Ezra turns towards Jai, but looks down towards Oleg, giving him a pity nod, then follows Jai and Zare. As Aresko gives them a tour of the facility, behind him follows Ezra, Jai, and Zare. Ezra sees Chopper, disguised as an imperial droid, painted black. When Chopper can see his hand, he sticks out his first finger, puts it back in a fist, then sticks out his pinky finger, the signal meaning he is in the Imperial HQ and was part of the top three. Chopper beeps and continues his journey.

Ezra senses Zare's curiosity change to confusion as he traces Chopper than looks at Ezra. He tries to make sure it looks like he didn't notice anything. When night falls, Chopper sneaks out before they shut the gates. He flashes his light six times, then turns and goes back to HQ.

"Specter-5 to Ghost. Looks like the kid passes the first test. He's inside Imperial HQ" Sabine says to Hera, walking back towards Zeb. They were staying in Capital City while Ezra was inside Imperial HQ along with Chopper. Only Hera and Kanan were on the Ghost in Lothal's orbit.

"Roger, Specter-5. Ghost standing by." Kanan sighs.

"We've been standing by for weeks. I'm sick of this."

"You're worried about Ezra." She says teasingly.

"I'm not worried about the kid. I'm worried about the op. What were we thinking putting him undercover?"

"What were we thinking? This was his idea. He made a choice."

"But what if he gets caught."

"He hasn't gotten caught so far."

"The minute he gets that decoder, Zeb yanks him out of there."

"Uh, that's the plan?" Kanan sighs.

"I should've done this myself."

"Oh yeah. You'd make quite a cadet."

~+~+~+~+~

As Ezra, Zare, and Jai exit the elevator, they put on their helmets, and leave to pass out the new data pads to people in the HQ. Ezra goes to the left and Jai goes to the right. Ezra feels Zare's eyes on him, but he eventually goes left, following Jai. As Ezra turns the corner and walks towards Kallus's office, he almost runs into him.

"Sir, I have your new datapad. I can leave it on your desk if you wish."Ezra speaks, voice completely near monotonous. 

"No, I' ll take it now." Kallus holds out his hand, and Ezra puts the data pad in it. He stops walking and watches Kallus turn the corner. He sneaks back over to his office and puts in an override code in the panel. He walks over to the desk and finds the computer. As he opens it, he turns it towards him. He types in a few commands and the decoder pops out.

"One decoder, as ordered." Ezra knows there is an alarm above the door, so as soon as he crosses it, he has to get to the exit as fast as he can. Ezra puts the decoder in his helmet and starts to leave. He quickly turns around and grabs the stack of data pads. As he is about to walk out, the door opens, and Ezra almost collides with Zare.

"What do you think you're doing?" The two stand there for a second, looking at each other. They turn their heads at the sound of a door opening. Zare quickly pushes him inside. Zare walks in and turns around, taking off his helmet. He looks at Ezra then down at his helmet, seeing the decoder. As he reaches for it, Ezra tries to pull back.

"Hey, stop. Get out of there!" Zare pulls out the decoder.

"Figured it'd be something like this."

"It's not what you think." Ezra tries to play the not-guilty card but readies his blaster.

"I think this device has a built-in sensor which will trigger that," He says, pointing towards the sensor above Kallus door. _No kidding_... Ezra thinks.  _But wait..._ "You try waking out with this thing, this whole facility goes on lockdown."

"I know...Are you trying to _help_ me?"

"Do you really want to discuss this? Here? Now?"

"Mm. Not so much." Ezra grabs the decoder and puts it back in the machine. They both put on their helmets and walk out the door, making sure nobody saw them.

~+~+~+~+~

As the HQ's blast-doors go down, Sabine coms Hera.

"Specter-5 to Ghost. Something went wrong. The kid didn't get the decoder and he didn't come out"

"Copy that Specter-5, give him one more day."

"This decoder better be with the risk," Kanan says, sighing.

"What's the alternative. Do you have a better solution? Do you want to stop that kyber shipment or not? You know what the Empire can do with that crystal." Kanan looks over at her, knowing he's defeated.

"I know."

"So we give Ezra one more day."

~+~+~+~+~

As night falls over the academy, Ezra and Zare wait until their 'bunkmates' are asleep before sneaking over to the supplies closet.

"What do you need that decoder for?" Zare says, looking over at Ezra who was leaning on a stack of boxes.

"My friends need it to stop an Imperial kyber crystal shipment. How'd you know about the alarm? Only top-ranked Imperials have that sort of information. Or notice it at all."

"From my sister, Dhara." Ezra looks over at him. He knows that name... of course.

"You're her brother? Leonis, wasn't it?" Zare looks over at him suspiciously.

"Yeah. She was the star cadet of this place. She knew the entire complex backward and forwards. They told us she ran off, but I don't think so."

"You thought right," Ezra says, shrugging. 

"What do you mean...?"

"Your sister, Dhara, for one is alive, but she is a force sensitive-"

"What's that?" Ezra concentrates on a cadet helmet nearby, lifting it easily. Zare watches in amazement as Ezra gently places it on Zare's head. Zare takes it off, turning it every which way, making sure there were no strings attached.

"That. It's called the Force. Very few people are left. I'm one of them. Zare, your sister is alive and she is on Arkanis. She's force sensitive and is being held by the inquisitor. She's part of Project Harvester."

"Ho-how do you know this?" He asks, looking up. Ezra sees, and senses, the fear in his eyes. He slowly backs towards the practice-blasters, dropping the helmet. Ezra grabs his arm and catches the helmet with the force before it hits the ground.

"Zare. Listen to me. I was there. I was part of Project Harvester. I was able to escape. I came here to get the decoder and find you." He moves the helmet back to where it was, hand still on Zare's arm. Zare eyes him and the helmet warily.

"Why?"

"Because. Your sister knew you were going to be 15 soon. That was a year ago. Zare, she knew you'd look for her. And the inquisitor wants both you and me dead."


	4. Chapter 4

"And halt!" As the group of cadets comes to a stop, they turn towards the two men, their commanders. "Squad LRC-077 for your inspection, sir!" Taskmaster Grint says to Commandant Aresko.   
"Cadets, you entered this facility as children. And in a few short weeks, you will leave as soldiers. By the time you complete your training, you will be prepared to serve your Emperor. Today, we will test your strength and resolve. Are you ready to become stormtroopers?"  
"Sir, yes sir!" All of the cadets say in unison.  
"At ease."  
As some of the cadets, like Jai Kell, with blue on his helmet, and Zare Leonis, with yellow on his, remove their helmets, Ezra removes his too, which has red on it. They are part of the top four. Well, he can't exactly say his name is Ezra, now. As he looks at his helmet, flashbacks of his previous time in the academy come back to him. He hears a faint whisper of his new name.   
"-v. Dev. Hey Dev. Dev Morgan, you in there." He feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see Jai.   
"What. Yeah, oh yeah. Dev Morgan's in here Alright. Th-That's me..." He rotates his helmet nervously.   
"Wow. You must really be feeling the pressure."  
"Sorry, Jai. Who's under pressure?" He playfully elbows the boy. "Not the guy who's won every assessment." Jai starts to playfully fight back.   
"Yeah, but today I can taste victory."  
"You said that yesterday and went hungry." As they start to laugh, they feel the floor move.   
"Woah!" The cadets are caught off-guard as some of them lose their footing. Aresko starts to speak.   
"Cadets, you are descending into the Well... and must climb out with all deliberate speed." The Well has stopped moving and is at least twenty feet below from where it was previously. "For the top three winners, you will be given the honor of serving as aides in Imperial headquarters. Those who lose will be serving Taskmaster Grint... and wished they'd stayed at the bottom of that well."  
"I'm taking that prize," Jai says, pointing towards himself. One of the cadets with green on his helmet shoves him. Ezra catches him before he could fall.  
"Not today, Kell."  
"Back off, Oleg." Ezra blocks a grab from him with his arm. He was the fourth person part of the top four.   
"You too, Morgan. You're both going down."  
"Actually," He says, shaking off Oleg's hand, "We're going up." As they begin to fight, Taskmaster Grint starts to countdown.   
"The assessment begins in four, three, two..." The cadets quickly put on their helmets and get ready.   
"How exactly are we going up?" Jai says.   
"One!"The squares in the Well begin to move and float, creating moving pathways so they can climb up.   
"There's your answer, Jai." Ezra runs to the nearest platform, jumping on it. He jumps from platform to platform, working his way up. "See you at the top!"  
"Yes, you will!" Jai says, beginning to work his way up. "From below!"As the other cadets start to follow what Ezra and Jai were doing, Ezra quickly jumps from platform to platform, sensing the quickest way up. A risky move, but he has to be in the top three.   
"Failure is not acceptable. This Empire has no use for weakness." Commandant Aresko says. One of the cadets looks up at him but yells as the platform shocks him, sending him to a lower part of the well. Ezra jumps to platforms that haven't even come out of the wall, the pathway like a staircase. The platforms give out waves of electricity, but don't shock him because he is already on the next platform. After about four, he can stand on one that won't shock him.   
"Morgan, how do you do it?"Jai says, making sure he doesn't stay on one for too long. "It's like you know the platforms coming before they're there!"  
"What can I say?" He says, jumping one up before it comes out before he falls and two more up. The platforms had barley moved before he did. "It's a gift!"  
"Morgan's impressive. Perhaps too impressive. Make note of that." Aresko says to Grint quietly, making sure none of the cadets hear him. Ezra helps Jai up onto a platform. He senses Oleg advancing behind them and takes Jai's arm.   
"You lose, Morgan."  
"Jai, look out!" He pulls Jai with him to an oncoming platform, making Oleg miss them. He falls to the lowest platform. Ezra opens his mask, smiling at Oleg. He gives him a salut mockingly and jumps to the top. Once he reaches the main level, he helps Jai up. They are both breathing hard.   
"First again!"  
"Yeah. Well, I'll get you tomorrow."  
"You said that yesterday too." Ezra smiles. He hears a slow clap from in front of him and loses his smile.   
"Quite a finish, cadets. It seems this trial was too easy. Morgan, Kell, you both set course records." Ezra looks at Jai from the corner of his eye. He is helping up the third place cadet.   
"And, um... is it... Leonis."  
The cadet straightens up and takes off his helmet. "Sir, yes sir!"  
"Congratulations, you three are today's winners. But rest assured, your trial will be a great challenge. Follow." Aresko starts to walk off, leading the three to Imperial HQ. Ezra turns towards Jai, but looks down towards Oleg, giving him a pity nod, then follows Jai and Zare. 

As Aresko gives them a tour of the facility, behind him follows Ezra, Jai, and Zare. Ezra sees Chopper, disguised as an imperial droid, painted black. When Chopper can see his hand, he sticks out his first finger, puts it back in a fist, then sticks out his pinky finger, the signal meaning he is in the Imperial HQ and was part of the top three. Chopper beeps and continues his journey. Ezra senses Zare's curiosity change to confusion as he traces Chopper than looks at Ezra. He tries to make sure it looks like he didn't notice anything. 

When night falls, Chopper sneaks out before they shut the gates. He flashes his light six times, then turns and goes back to HQ.   
"Specter-5 to Ghost. Looks like the kid passes the first test. He's inside Imperial HQ" Sabine says to Hera, walking back towards Zeb. They were staying in Capital City while Ezra was inside Imperial HQ along with Chopper. Only Hera and Kanan were on the Ghost in Lothal's orbit.  
"Roger, Specter-5. Ghost standing by." Kanan sighs.   
"We've been standing by for weeks. I'm sick of this."  
"You're worried about Ezra." She says teasingly.   
"I'm not worried about the kid. I'm worried about the op. What were we thinking putting him undercover?"  
"What were we thinking? This was his idea. He made a choice."  
"But what if he gets caught."  
"He hasn't gotten caught so far."  
"The minute he gets that decoder, Zeb yanks him out of there."  
"Uh, that's the plan?" Kanan sighs.   
"I should've done this myself."  
"Oh yeah. You'd make quite a cadet."

~+~+~+~+~

As Ezra, Zare, and Jai exit the elevator, they put on their helmets, and leave to pass out the new data pads to people in the HQ. Ezra goes to the left and Jai goes to the right. Ezra feels Zare's eyes on him, but he eventually goes left, following Jai. As Ezra turns the corner and walks towards Kallus's office, he almost runs into him.   
"Excuse me, sir, I have your new datapad. I can leave it on your desk."  
"No, I' ll take it now." Kallus holds out his hand, and Ezra puts the data pad in it. He stops walking and watches Kallus turn the corner. He sneaks back over to his office and puts in an override code in the panel. He walks over to the desk and finds the computer. As he opens it, he turns it towards him. He types in a few commands and the decoder pops out.   
"One decoder, as ordered." Ezra knows there is an alarm above the door, so as soon as he crosses it, he has to get to the exit as fast as he can. Ezra puts the decoder in his helmet and starts to leave. He quickly turns around and grabs the stack of data pads. As he is about to walk out, the door opens, and Ezra almost collides with Zare.   
"What do you think you're doing?"They stand there for a second, looking at each other. They turn their heads at the sound of a door opening. Zare quickly pushes him inside. Zare walks in and turns around, taking off his helmet. He looks at Ezra then down at his helmet, seeing the decoder. As he reaches for it, Ezra tries to pull back.   
"Hey, stop. Get out of there!" Zare pulls out the decoder.  
"Figured it'd be something like this."  
"It's not what you think."  
"I think this device has a built-in sensor which will trigger that," He says, pointing towards the sensor above Kallus door. No kidding... Ezra thinks.   
"You try waking out with this thing, this whole facility goes on lockdown."  
"I know. But wait, are you trying to help me?"  
"Do you really want to discuss this? Here? Now?"  
"Mm. Not so much." Ezra grabs the decoder and puts it back in the machine. They both put on their helmets and walk out the door, making sure nobody saw them.

~+~+~+~+~

As the HQ's blast-doors go down, Sabine coms Hera.  
"Specter-5 to Ghost. Something went wrong. The kid didn't get the decoder and he didn't come out"  
"Copy that Specter-5, give him one more day."  
"This decoder better be with the risk," Kanan says, sighing.   
"What's the alternative. Do you have a better solution? Do you want to stop that kyber shipment or not? You know what the Empire can do with that crystal." Kanan looks over at her, knowing he's defeated. Knowing she's right.   
"I know."  
"So we give Ezra one more day."

~+~+~+~+~

As night falls over the academy, Ezra and Zare wait until their 'bunkmates' are asleep before sneaking over to the supplies closet.   
"What do you need that decoder for?" Zare says, looking over at Ezra who was leaning on a stack of boxes.   
"My friends need it to stop an Imperial kyber crystal shipment. How'd you know about the alarm? Only top-ranked Imperials have that sort of information. Or notice it at all."  
"From my sister, Dhara." Ezra looks over at him. He knows that name... of course.  
"You're her brother? Leonis, wasn't it?" Zare looks over at him suspiciously.   
"Yeah. She was the star cadet of this place. She knew the entire complex backward and forwards. They told us she ran off, but I don't think so."  
"You thought right."  
"What do you mean...?"  
"Your sister, Dhara, for one is alive, but she is a force sensitive-"  
"What's that?" Ezra concentrates on a cadet helmet nearby, lifting it easily. Zare watches in amazement as Ezra gently places it on Zare's head. Zare takes it off, turning it every which way, making sure there were no strings attached.   
"That. It's called the Force. Very few people are left. I'm one of them. Zare, your sister is alive and she is on Arkanis. She's force sensitive and is being held by the inquisitor. She's part of Project Harvester."  
"Ho-how do you know this?" He asks, looking up. Ezra sees, and senses, the fear in his eyes. He slowly backs towards the practice-blasters, dropping the helmet. Ezra grabs his arm and catches the helmet with the force before it hits the ground.   
"Zare. Listen to me. I was there. I was part of Project Harvester. I was able to escape. I came here to get the decoder and find you." He moves the helmet back to where it was, hand still on Zare's arm. Zare eyes him and the helmet warily.   
"Why?"  
"Because. Your sister knew you were going to be 15 soon. That was a year ago. Zare, she knew you'd look for her. And the inquisitor wants both you and me dead."


	5. Chapter 5

"Dead? Dead! A man I don't even know wants me dead!" Zare starts to pace and Ezra sighs, annoyed.   
"Zare, if you do well, and he realizes you are  _not_  force sensitive, he will find you useful and  _not_  kill you."  
"Oh, so  _that's_ supposed to make me feel better.  _Great_ pep talk. And what were you doing breaking into Kallus' office? That's s great way to get shot."  
"Long story. But I need that decoder and I could use a partner who knows his way around."  
"What's in it for me?"  
"Do you really need a reason to mess with the Empire?" Ezra sticks out his hand for Zare to shake. He smiles and takes it.   
"No, I don't." Ezra smiles.   
"Good. Now, we'll have to finish in the top three tomorrow if we're gonna get back inside Imperial H.Q."  
"Then let's do it. I'm Zare by the way. Zare Leonis. And you're Dev, right?"  
"Yeah. Yeah, that's me..." Ezra says, solemnly, knowing he can't give him his real name.   
~~~~time skips to after Zare, Jai, and Ezra, and others are done with the second test and Ezra pushes Jai to bottom of well to make sure that Zare could move up with him and stay in H.Q. Ezra and Jai are back at the Ghost, Zare staying to look for his sister. Jai is asking him about how he knew about Project Harvester, for he had told him the same thing he told Zare.~~~~  
"So, what is it, anyway?" Jai questions, grabbing a space waffle then sitting across from Ezra in the kitchen.   
"What's what?" Ezra lifts bits of space waffle into his mouth with the force, too tired to actually move his arms, getting no sleep the past two weeks.   
"Project Harvester?"  
"Oh, it's an operation by the Empire to capture young Force-sensitives and turn them into Siths, or dark side users. It was operated from a secret installation on the planet Arkanis, connected to the planet's Imperial headquarters and the Arkanis Academy." Jai stares at him, stupefied.   
"How do you know so much about it?"  
"I was part of it. I had been captured but was able to escape." Ezra gave him a fraction of the truth. The space waffle bit, halfway to his mouth, fell into his lap when the door  _swished_ opened. He grumbled and grabbed it from his lap with his hand and set it back on his plate. "Kanan." He greeted.   
"Ezra. Jai, can you give us a minute?" Jai nodded, quickly exiting. Kanan swiftly took his place, staring at Ezra. "I want to thank you, Ezra. I know that posing as a cadet was probably hard, but I'm, along with many other people, are very grateful. What you did was right and very brave." Kanan smiles but does not get one in return. His face turns into concern. "Ezra, are you alright?"  
 _~~~~ inside Ezra's Head~~~~(_ ** _warning for abuse/beating/blood_** _)(not graphic)_  
 _"What you did was foolish, wrong, and very stupid! How dare you do such a thing!" (So intimidating) The Inquisitor ignites his lightsaber, bright red illuminating the room. "You will pay for what you have done!" He slices his lightsaber on Ezra's back, the mark immediately turning black. Ezra screams in pain, begging for it to stop. Nine at the time, it was his first time sneaking out of the academy. He had stopped one of the vendors from being killed for not giving something to a stormtrooper, although they had not paid. When he tried to sneak back in, the inquisitor had caught him and was told what he had done by the stormtroopers he had stopped. The searing hot blade pierced his back again and again before his nose, jaw, and eye were caught in a fight he did not sign up for. "Get up!" Snarled the Inquisitor. "I said get up!"_  
~~~~~~~~   
"Ezra?" He jumped at his name, his back aching from the memory. "Are you alright?" Ezra smiles tiredly.   
"I'm fine. Just... tired is all. Long couple of weeks." He finishes the last few bites and puts the plate in the sink. "Call me when you guys need me."  
"You're not staying?"  
"Why would I? This isn't my home. It's yours." He starts to walk out, but stops when he hears Kanan say,   
"It can be." And he freezes.   
"What? No. It can't be. If you knew..." Ezra flinches at memories as himself as an inquisitor. He takes a deep breath and turns toward Kanan. "If you knew what I was, you wouldn't be saying that. So please, do us all a favor, and don't." His voice cracks and he turns tail before Kanan can stop him.   
"Ezra!" Kanan chases after him, yelling at him to stop and come back so they could talk, but Ezra knew if he knew... He dashes into the tall grass fields, not having a speeder to help him this time because it was forgotten at the parade. He would have to go get it tomorrow. He tried to lose Kanan a few time, zigzagging, backtracking. It never seemed to work until he realized that he had  _a tracker on him._ Once he finds it, in the back of his neck, he finds a loth-cat to put it on. The cat goes the opposite way he does and leads Kanan away from him. He slows, catching his breath. A blue blur passes beside his face and he jumps, going for his lightsaber. As he ignites it, a purple hue is between the two. "You're a Sith!" Kanan shouts, surprised. Ezra knew this would happen. He shouldn't ignite it, but his training made him turn it on automatically.   
"I'm  _not_ a Sith, Kanan." The purple hue turns blue again, his lightsaber put away. He turns from Kanan, He is stopped by a lightsaber by his throat.   
"Then what are you? Have you been spying on us for the Empire?" Ezra sighs.   
"No. But I was once an Imperial. I was forced to become a Sith, but I never truly was. I used my hatred of the Empire to fuel me, but my eyes were never yellow and red. And please, get that away from me. I'd like to keep my head, thank you. And that offer still stand?" Kanan removes the blade by his throat, but it is still ignited. He squints, confused.   
"What offer?" Ezra sighs, shaking his head.   
"Never mind. Kanan, please, listen. I... I once worked with the Empire, yes, but-"  
"No. You worked with a  _Sith!"_ His face changes from confusion to anger in the blink of an eye as his grip tightens on his lightsaber.   
 _"Kanan..._  It was either that, or I died. And while I was an inquisitor, I helped the people. I wasn't caught until... Kanan, he isn't the only Inquisitor. I wasn't the only inquisitor, I was only second in command, almost, if he died. There are about eight more after me."  
"Either way, you  _killed_ people. You-"  
"No, I didn't! I stunned them or I knocked them out and made it look like they were dead so I wouldn't end up dead myself. Kanan, how do you think I was chosen as an Inquisitor, hm? They didn't kidnap me, I was in the academy and was picked out as special. The Inquisitor came and almost killed me and then I trained under him for three years. Kanan, when I went into the academy, I was eight. I was supposed to be trained as a pilot, but the inquisitor came and took me to Arkanis **,** and trained me as an Inquisitor for five years, and escaped a few months after I turned thirteen.   
"Do you know how hard that was? People looking for me like bounty hunters and the Empire itself. I was only on my own for three years before I met and learned the hard way to never make friends because of me, they would die. Every chance I could, I would sneak out of the complex and take a look at what the Empire had done. I would bring my lightsaber and make sure other troopers didn't kill any other families and so their kids wouldn't have to like alone as I did."  
"How do we know you aren't lying? How do we know you're not working under the Empire anymore?"  
"You're a Jedi, or were, anyway, can't you sense when I'm lying?" Ezra turns tail, knowing that Kanan is distracted, and runs. He goes towards the hills and is halfway there when he knows that Kanan didn't follow him. He slows when the area opens up. A lot-cat comes from out of the grass and walks up next to him, rubbing his face on Ezra's shins and purring. He smiles and looks towards the mountains. The sky is a mixture of blue, red, pink, and orange. He sits down and the Loth- cat climbs into his lap, purring. Ezra puts his hand on the cats head and smiles as the sunset reflects off the snow-covered mountains. Yeah, he'll get the speeder tomorrow. 


	6. Chapter 6

"Kanan! Where's that opening?" Hera shouted, trying her best to dodge TIE Fighter blasts.

"I got it!" He yelled from down below. The ship shook with the hits it was taking, shields failing. "Don't have it! I don't have a shot!"

"Of course! Chopper, do you have the coordinates?" A series of beeps came from the droid.   
"What did he say?" Zeb said, pointing to Chopper. While Kanan is in the nose turret gunner station, Sabine, Zeb, Chopper, and Hera are in the cockpit.

"He said 'Hello hyperspace!'" She smiles, making the jump. Zeb shakes his head.

"That's not what he said." While black space turns monochrome blue, Hera relaxes and the doors open, revealing Kanan. He walks to the front of the cockpit, taking his seat next to Hera's.

"Told you we'd get away." He smiles, turning his chair towards the other two members. Sabine rolls her eyes along with Hera.

"With the shipment," Sabine states. "You said we'd get away  _with_ the shipment." Kanan looks at her in disbelief.

"Kanan, we're low on everything," Hera says facing him, face solemn. "Fuel-"

"Food," Zeb grunts out.

"Explosives," Sabine chimes in.

"We need to make some money, or else we might as well put the  _Ghost_ in storage." Hera looks away, looking at their coordinates. Everybody frowns. They don't want to give up their home.

"There's always Vizago's job..."

"Actually," Hera says, trying to lighten the mood. "I got a message from an anonymous. They said they know we are in a bit of a tight spot, so they offered us a job." Kanan looks over at her suspiciously.

"What kind of job?" He questions. "And how much?"

"You won't believe me." She answers, in disbelief herself. Everybody gives her curious looks, implying to her to continue. "Five-hundred credits. And even if we don't get the job done, they'll give us half of it, three-fifty." Zeb scoffs, Sabine whistles, and even Chopper lets out a series of beeps, saying, "Wow." Kanan laughs. Hera gives him a pointed look.

"What?"

"You have to- You  _have_ to be joking. You seriously don't think that this can't be a trap or something?"

"He's not that anonymous. I know who it is." Kanan raises an eyebrow.

"How?" She shrugs, putting in coordinates to exit hyperspace.

"He can't be any worse than  _Vizago,_ can he?" Sabine asks.

"No Sabine, they're not." Hera chuckles.

"So, what? Were arms dealers again?" Zeb asks, annoyed.

"Mmm, more like arms  _redistributors."_

 _"_ Come on," Zeb scoffs. "We don't even know what  _kind_  of weapons we're talking about here!"

"You game?" Hera asks, turning towards Kanan.

"Say I am. What then?"

"I already know the mission. Let's head to the spaceport. Sabine?" She looks over at him. "How's your Aqualish?"  
~+~+~+~+~+~  
Ezra had been watching the  _Ghost_  crew when Hera got the call from the anonymous. He knew what the mission was and he would help them.  _One last time,_ he thought. He hopped onto a speeder and races towards the spaceport.  
~+~+~+~+~+~+~  
"Now boarding Star-Commuter Shuttle ST-45, bound for Garel." A mechanical voice says through the speakers. As many species enter the ship, Sabine, Chopper, and Zeb are part of the group. A few more people follow them in, one with a protocol droid and the other with an R-7 astromech.   
"This way, Mr. Wabo." Minister Tua says to an aqualish (note: species and language are the same). Zeb looks over at Sabine and smirks. "We have seats in the front." As they sit down in front of Zeb and Sabine, Chopper being in the aisle. Mr. Wabo speaks. Minister Tua sighs. "Where is that translator?" She says, annoyed.   
"Coming, Minister! Come along R-2." A gold protocol droid walks onto the ship, along with an R-2 droid. The mechanical voice is heard again.   
"Final call for Star-Commuter Shuttle ST-45, bound for Garel." Just as the door is closing, Kanan runs in. He walks past Sabine and Zeb, looking at them from the corner of his eye while they give him a small nod. As he walks to a seat, the man with the R-7 droid, who has a black cloak on, shoved his droid, who it looks it is trying to hit him.   
"Sentiments, please prepare for takeoff!" The RX-24 droid speaks. The ship rises off the ground and leaves Lothal, the black sky quickly turning blue.   
The man with the R-7 is being poked by his droid. He glares down at it, trying to make him stop. At the front, Minister Tue 'talks' with Amda Wabo. C3-PO translates for her.   
"Amda Wabo is most honored you are joining him on Garel, Minister Tua. And if I may add, on a personal note-" Just as their plan is about to start...  
"Will you cut it out! You have plenty of space (ba dum. Tsh). Stop crowding me!" A voice is heard from the back from the man with the R-7. As the droid zaps him, his hood falls off and a mess of blue curls fall out.   
"Kid, how 'bout you get your droid under control?"  
He looks up, shoving the droid back and winks at Kanan.   
"Mind your own business! Ow!" He yells, R-7 shocking him again.   
"Hey, pilot?" Kanan calls out. "Isn't there some rule against droids in the passenger area?" Ezra smiles at Kanan, happy he got it that quickly. The droid sighs.   
"I am sorry, sir. Your Astromech must proceed to the  _back_  of the craft.   
"Hey, if my astromech's banished, then those three astromechs are banished, too" Sabine smirks and looks over at Zeb, Who is both angry, confused, and relieved because he was the one who was going to be shocked by Chopper. And he knew he wouldn't go easy. Chopper makes a series of sounds and beeps as he goes to the back.   
"Astromech? Me?" C3-PO says, offended. "I have never been so insulted. I'll have you know-" Minister Tua shake shed head. "Pilot, these two droids are with me, and I am on  _Imperial_ business."  
"I'm sorry, ma'am. But these are  _Imperial regulations."_ The pilot says, closing its visor as it turns around.   
"But, Minister-"  
"I can't risk an incident spoiling these negotiations. Go!" The two droids head the back with Chopper, the R-7, and another protocol droid, already there.   
"Oh, this is so humiliating! Trust an astromech to ruin everything." R-2 makes a series of beeps.   
"Secret mission? What secret mission?" As the droids go to the back, Mr. Wabo tries to speak to Minister Tua. She makes a desperate face, trying to let him see that she can't understand him.   
"I'm sorry, Mr. Wabo. I- I don't understand you." Zeb, hearing this, leans forward.   
"Excuse me. I couldn't help noticing your predicament. If it's of any help, my ward here is quite fluent." He points toward Sabine.   
"Oh, I would  _never_ presume... But it would be good practice for my level five exams at the Imperial Academy. No, no. But I couldn't." She waves her hands, Sabine's face solemn. Minister Tua's eyebrows raise in surprise.   
"You're a level five academy student? I was too, once upon a time..." She says, smiling as she leans back in her chair. At the back of the craft, C3-PO is arguing with R-2 D-2.   
"Don't you shush me! It hardly matters to you what they're saying."  
Minister Tua turns towards Sabine, gesturing at Mr. Wabo. "Now, please ask Mr. Wabo where the shipment is being held." When Sabine asks, Mr. Wabo replies. She thinks for a moment and smiles.   
"He said bay 17." As the pilot announces their arrival, Sabine glares at him, hoping they could get a little more information on what they were getting.   
"Sentiments, we are approaching Garel. Please prepare for landing." As they land, Ezra goes to the back to retrieve his droid, ignoring the curious, and mad beeps coming from Chopper. As he walks out the ship, he makes his way to bay 7. Back at the ship, Minister Tua, Sabine, and Zeb exit the ship.   
"My dear, you did a great service for your Empire today. Now, focus on those level fives."  
"Oh, I will minister. It's been such an honor! Thank you!" She feigns enthusiasm, smiling. Zeb elbows her, trying to get her to lay off because it seemed as if it was too much. But the Minister turned her back and walked towards a group of Stormtroopers, Mr. Wabo in her trail."  
"Take us to bay 17."  
"Yes, Minister." The commander says.   
Sabine, Zeb, and Kanan walk over to a deserted area, meeting up with each other. Sabine turns towards Kanan with her helmet on.   
"Kanan, what is Ezra doing here?" He shakes his head.   
"I don't know. I think he's going for bay 7, so we need to get there, now."  
"Kanan," Zeb says, worried. "You don't think-"  
"No, I don't. Let's just get to bay 7 and we all get paid." The two nod and follow Specter 1.   
When they get there, the blast doors are already open.   
"Karabast," Zeb says, pulling his Bo-Riffle from his back. "He beat us here." Kanan shakes his head.   
"No, I don't sense him. It's... somebody else. Somebody... darker."

~+~+~+~+~

*Dejarik was the holographic game on the white and black circular table in the common room. It was a popular game which withstood the test of time better than nearly any other game in. It originated as a game, though as it became much more widespread over time, many beings became unaware of its origins. ( http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dejarik/Legends )


	7. Chapter 7

** All rights go to LLC. **

Previously on A  _Jedi in Hiding:_  
"No, I don't. Let's just get to bay 7 and we all get paid." The two nod and follow Specter 1.   
When they get there, the blast doors are already open.   
"Karabast," Zeb says, pulling his Bo-Riffle from his back. "He beat us here." Kanan shakes his head.   
"No, I don't sense him. It's... somebody else. Somebody... darker."  
~+~+~+~+~  
Sabine looks at him, confused. "What do you mean,  _somebody darker?"_ She speaks, the fear on her face hidden by her helmet. Kanan shakes his head and motions for them to hide as he engages his lightsaber. When he ignites it, a red one in the shadows ignites too.   
"Well. Two Jedis in one day. A rare find these days." A rough voice says slowly, followed by a dark laugh. Kanan says nothing.   
"Your little...  _friend,_ " He speaks, voice monotone, but it hides a bit of anger. He walks from the shadows and Kanan remembers the man that Ezra said they 'need help with'. The red markings on his face pop out of his sheet white face, matching the redness of his lightsaber. His yellow eyes shift to a black blob on the edge of the shadows to Kanan's right. It was Ezra. "Has already tried to stop me. What makes you think you can?" Kanan rushes at the Inquisitor. As he swings, the Inquisitor either dodged or blocked them easily.   
"It seems you trained with Jedi Master  _Depa Billaba._ The temple records are quite complete in close quarter fighting. Billaba's emphasis was always on form 3, which you favor to a  _ridiculous_  degree. Clearly, you were a poor student. Is that really all you got?" He says, tauntingly. Kanan hesitates for a moment, making the Inquisitor smile. Kanan backs up, glaring. He tries his best to subtly move towards Ezra.   
"How...Who are you?" He asks, anger in his voice.   
"I am the Inquisitor." He looks behind Kanan, realizing that he had put himself between the boy and himself. His smile quickly turns into a frown. "Do you really think you can save the boy. He is nothing but a coward like you-"  
"Then we're perfect for each other," Kanan growls. His eyes flick quickly over to where Sabine and Zeb were hiding. He couldn't see them.  _Good. But where are they?_  
"No. He is weak and, for his sake, surrender.  _Now."_  
 _"_ Not going to happen,  _Sith."_ Kanan spits. They ready their sabers, swinging them back as they rush towards each other. Kanan tries to hit him high, low, and middle, but the Inquisitor blocks all of them with one hand behind his back. The Inquisitor swings high, crossing sabers with Kanan, but he ducks and slides under the Inquisitors saber, trading places. The Inquisitor rushes at him again, going high again, and Kanan meets him there with the same amount of force, trading places again, but making both of them almost fall. The Inquisitor rushes at him, gaining his footing faster and swings at him with rage instead of calm, the swings sloppy. Kanan backs up, starting to lose his footing, when the Inquisitor swings high, their lightsaber crossing when he lowers his wrist and traps Kanan's wrist between the hilt of the Inquisitor's lightsaber and his wrist. Kanan looks up at the smug look on his face. He quickly grabs his blaster, shooting at the Inquisitor's head while he swings towards his middle. The man isn't quick enough to block his saber and is cut enough on his middle to make him falter and enough to wound him, not kill. He has enough time to get to Ezra while the Inquisitor is hurt and down. So, he kneels next to the boy, checking him for injuries. Ezra groans, blinking his eyes open.   
"Kanan?" He speaks, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper.   
"Hey, kid. Today's not your day." He says, laughing. Ezra tries to laugh, but it turns into a cough. When he looks back up, his eye widen.   
"Kanan, look out!" The hair on the back of his neck stands up and he narrowly blocks the red saber from beheading him.   
"Are you watching, boy?" The Inquisitor says, pushing harder on Kanan's lightsaber with one hand on his side. Ezra didn't understand. It was a lightsaber wound, it shouldn't be bleeding, but it must have hurt like-  
"The Jedi are soon to be dead." He looks down at Kanan and smiles. He looks back up at Ezra. "Surrender, and I will let your  _friends_ live. For there is another path: The  _Dark Side._ " He sneers. He lifts his saber and pushes Kanan into the wall next to Ezra. His lightsaber rolls from his limp hand and Ezra stands, holding the blue saber.   
"Never heard of it." He retorts, grip tight on the new saber. The Inquisitor laughs as he stands up straight, lightsaber limp at his side.   
"You know well you cannot beat me. For the first and last time you disobeyed, I gave you mercy." Ezra turns pale, his footing and grip faltering. The Inquisitor takes this and charges at him while he is vulnerable. Ezra blocks it, nearly losing an arm. Ezra grunts, wishing Sabine would hurry up.   
"I was young and naïve then. You cannot beat me now, and you know that. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? Sabine! Now!" Ezra yells as he deactivates Kanan's lightsaber and ducks under the red lightsaber, rolling over to Kanan before the Inquisitor can process what's happening. Ezra shields Kanan from the debris. The sharp pain in his side is quickly forgotten. Ezra looks for the Inquisitor, but cannot find him. But what he does see makes him groan. Sabine and Zeb are in a fight with Minister Tua's stormtroopers.   
"Today is  _not_ my day. Or his. Or any of ours, to be fair." He makes sure Kanan doesn't have any injuries before putting his lightsaber back on his belt and pulling out his own red one. He runs over to where Sabine and Zeb are, standing in front of them to reflect the fire back to the stormtroopers. "Zeb!" He yells over the fire.   
"What?" He yells back.   
"Get Kanan to the  _Ghost_! Sabine?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Get those T-7 ion disruptors to the  _Ghost_. Now! I'll be right behind you!"  
With no reply, he focuses on the squad of troopers while from the corner of his eye, he watches them go off and do their job while he diverts the fire all at him. He feels something brush at his mental shields around his head, it makes his senses falter, a shot going through his side where the debris had hit. He grunts, holding one hand on his side while the other one holds his lightsaber and he starts to aim the fire back to their owner. He watches Sabine load the last crate onto the  _Ghost._ She yells something at him but is unable to reach his ears, but he knows exactly what she said. When the hairs on his neck stand up, he turns back to the troopers as reinforcements arrive and a hurt Inquisitor returns.   
He hesitates. Should he stay and face the man or run and be safe?   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


He deactivates his lightsaber and, using the force, shuts the cargo bay door on the  _Ghost_.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~+~+The Ghost+~+~_  
A Hologram plays in front of the  _Ghost_ crew, almost similar to the one Zeb and Sabine had watched when they were told to overload the T-7s. It was one of Ezra.   
" _You're probably wondering what's going on. I don't know either because I looked at this moment, either seeing me with you all, in a transport vehicle on my way to Mustafar, or in hiding until my wounds are healed. And if you guys are up to it, I got some people who want to meet you and who you might want to meet."_


	8. Chapter 8

**Warnings: Fight scene (blood) end of story. Enjoy!**  
"Kanan, what are we going to do?" Hera asks, concerned. "He said that he might be hurt but we have no idea where he is, or if he is even alive!" As she paces the common room, the rest of her crew stares at her in worry. Sabine stands near the ladder, Zeb is sitting on one side of the table, and Kanan sits on the other. 

"We barely knew 'im." Zeb says with his ears pointed down, leaning against the back of the chair. "Why do we have to go lookin' for him?" Sabine sighs. 

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but he's right. For all we know, it could be a trap, Kanan." Kanan shakes his head. 

"No, he could have  _killed_ me. He could have pinned it on the Inquisitor, but he saved me." He sighed, closing his eyes, trying to remember. "He shielded me with his  _body_ to make sure I didn't get hurt  _and_ he helped you two." He waves his hand between Sabine and Zeb. Sabine sighs, sitting down on the single chair next to Kanan, thinking. 

"He did say in his message that  _if_ he was still alive, he would meet us at the abandoned Lothal Net comm tower E-272." Hera says. 

"The one on the outskirts of Lothal?" Sabine questions, looking up. "That thing has been abandoned for years!"

"That's why its called  _abandoned,_ Sabine," Hera says, giving her a pointed look. "And we have to get there at 2100 hours. So get ready." Sabine rolled her eyes but nodded. She stands, walking towards the door, Zeb not too far behind. After the two left, Kanan looks at Hera, concerned. 

"Do you really think it could be a trap?" He says, standing up. Hera's sighs. 

"I don't think so, but we have to be prepared. I will stay on the  _Ghost_ while you guys go and look for him, just in case we need to have a quick getaway." Kanan nods. "And if he's hurt?" 

  
"Bring him back. Then we'll see if he is willing to join us." 

~+~+~+~+~

Ezra was staring at himself in the mirror. Red splattered his face as the smile he held seemed true. He looked down at his hands which were covered in a thick and sticky and smelly substance. His smile falls as he smells it. He didn't like that it smelled so metallic. He turns on the sink, the handle becoming red. As the water turns red, it doesn't smell as bad anymore and so he smiles again and starts to wash off the rest of himself. 

~+~+ _flashback because why not+~+~_

"Drop your weapon. I won't ask a second time." The Inquisitor says, his voice only wavering a little bit. Ezra drops his lightsaber and takes out his blaster, throwing it down with his saber. The Inquisitor smiles evilly, finally getting the boy to surrender. "You've grown soft, boy. A few years ago, you and I would have fought. I guess being with those  _scum_ has made you soft." Ezra stands, glaring at the Inquisitor, and says nothing. His smile fades and motions for the stormtroopers to put cuffs on him. Ezra suppresses a surprised yell as something pricks his veins. The Inquisitor walks towards him and bends down to pick up his weapons. When he stands, Ezra looks at him. 

"Scared of me, even now, to cuff me and inject me with force suppressors?" The sharp pain in his cheek comes suddenly, his head whipping to the left. He laughs, head still low. The Inquisitor looks at him with confusion and anger. Ezra looks up, a small amount of blood coming from his mouth, and smiles. His eyes flash red and the Inquisitor's eyes widen, taking a step back. 

"You couldn't beat me then, and you're not going to do it now." The Inquisitor snarls, grabbing his chin, turning it up 

"You will ask for mercy, and I shall not give it to you. Look at your situation, boy." He lets go of his chin and turns in a circle, arm out. Ezra eyes the near four dozen troopers surrounding them. "You should not be running your mouth. For it will only worsen such torture that is already coming your way." He starts walking away from Ezra with a limp, and the stormtroopers walk about ten paces behind the Inquisitor. 

As Ezra is strapped into the transportation vehicle, the stormtroopers enter the vehicle. Soon, they are on their way to the center of Capital City. Ezra, using what little Force ability he has left, unlocks the cuffs. As they fall, they fall between the hole at his feet, and of the vehicle, clinking behind them. He rubs his wrists and looks at the hole in the middle of the inside wrist. The holes were in both of his wrists. Ezra had no idea how much was injected already, but it wasn't enough to suppress his abilities completely. Closing his eyes, he senses his lightsaber and blaster three transport vehicles in front of him, with the Inquisitor. Ezra sighs, mumbling a  _great,_ and unlocks the door, confusing the troopers. 

The vehicle slows, coming to a stop, the ones in front slowing also. When the troopers get out, Ezra jumps from the container he was in and easily knocks out the four troopers, grabbing a blaster that one of them carried. He turns as more troopers come from behind him from the three means of transport. As they aim to fire, they don't. Ezra crouches, ready for a fight with the Inquisitor, who is coming through the half moon of troopers who unable him to get to the first transportation vehicle, so he waits for the Inquisitor to get through the troopers, knowing he will have his lightsaber. When the troopers finally part, he sees a tired Inquisitor with a pool of dried red blood that had soaked through the bandage that wraps around his abdomen. He holds his lightsaber and Ezra's dangles on his belt. When the arc of troopers close, the Inquisitor grabs Ezra's lightsaber, looks at it, and throws it to him on the ground. Ezra takes a step to grab it. They stand there, sizing each other up. 

"Forfeit now, boy, and this will end easily." Ezra laughs darkly and the Inquisitor's grip tightens around his lightsaber, ready to fight.

"You're in worse shape than me, Inquisitor. I don't think you're in the position to make demands right now. I could still beat you with one hand tied around my back."

"Let's see, shall we?" He ignites his lightsaber, the red glowing brightly in the night. Ezra hadn't realized how dark it had gotten, knowing it makes it harder for the troopers to see. Ezra ignites his lightsaber, the red of his glowing as bright as the Inquisitors. As they ready, Ezra weighs his options. 

The Inquisitor was weak, his blood low and he is hurt while Ezra has little to none Force ability. He could still easily beat him, but he knew that if he did, the troopers would open fire on him. He runs towards the Inquisitor. He uses the force to turn off both lightsabers just before he reaches the Inquisitor, leaving them in semi-darkness. He throws a right hook into his jaw, making the Inquisitor fall to his knees. He kicks him in his abdomen, making the Inquisitor yell in pain, coughing. Ezra is pushed backward and off his feet. He keeps hold of his lightsaber, igniting it when he sees the red of the Inquisitors. Ezra can't tell if it is his lightsaber illuminating on his face or if it was blood coming from his mouth. 

He didn't have much time to think about it when the Inquisitor comes at him. He slices at open space where Ezra had been. As Ezra rolls to the side, he spins, knocking the Inquisitor down again with his legs. As he falls on his back Ezra stands. He walks over to the Inquisitors left side, stepping on his wrist to make sure he can't pick up his lightsaber. He holds it to the Inquisitor's throat and smiles. 

"I don't know when you will understand that I will  _always_  beat you. You are too weak to fight, so you are not as smart as I thought you were. I could kill you now," He says it as if he might and the idea is the best one he has heard in a while. "But," he says, dragging it out,  "I won't. You know why?" Ezra doesn't give him a chance to answer, stepping harder on his wrist, a cracking sound coming from it along with the screams. "Because I need you to remember this and to tell him that he cannot kill me unless he tries to come and do it himself. I also want to look at you to look me in the eyes when I kill you, so I can watch the  _light_  leave your eyes. But, unfortunately, there is none right now for you don't have the energy to have it." He lifts his foot off the Inquisitor's wrist and immediately the Inquisitor grabs his wrist. "You do not deserve to die just yet," Ezra speaks, his voice dark. He turns towards the troopers.

He is not stopped when he takes a bike that a trooper had gotten off. He is not stopped as the exits Capitol City and turns towards the outskirts of town. The red on his boots and hands and the red in the sky nearly matches the red in his eyes as he smiles. Red mixed with white flashes in his head and his eyes flash yellow and red. He can't remember the last time he was so happy...


	9. Chapter 9

Ezra tried for the rest of the day to try to change his red eyes back to blue. It didn't go so well. He tried meditating because that, usually, was all it took. Ezra didn't know how to change them back and the  _Ghost_  crew was supposed to come to the COM tower. Soon. Ezra knew that if they saw his eyes, they would think him a Sith and the small bond that he had built with them, would be gone.

As he paced the length of the small room of the tower, Ezra spoke aloud to himself. "Well, I could go into hiding, couldn't I? Go back?" He shook his head, mumbling, "I'm not going back there." He continued to either pace, meditate, or get angry and throw a helmet across the small room, muttering, then going to pick it up and put it back where it was originally placed. Even in his small state of panic, it quickly escalated when he sensed Kanan, Sabine, and Zeb closing in on the COM tower. His best bet was to wear a helmet, but then the crew would be suspicious. He could just hide, but Kanan would probably sense him anyways.

As Kanan, Sabine, and Zeb went up the tower, Chopper staying and watching the bikes, Ezra began to clean the small space with his back to the door. He tensed when the door opened but continued to 'clean'.

"Ezra!" Sabine called out, happy to see the boy not dead. He heard them put their blasters back in their holsters and walk into the small space as the door closed behind the trio. He continued to clean, not looking their way, or saying a single thing. "Ezra?" Sabine said, confused. "Are you alright?" He nods, still keeping his back towards them.

"I'm fine. I'm alive. You can go back to your ship. You don't need to worry about me." He heard footsteps walking towards him, only hearing four because the space was so small. Ezra feels a hand on his shoulder, trying to either comfort him or turn him around. Either way, he flinched.

"Ezra, are you sure you're alright? We have medical supplies on the ship and-" Kanan was cut off by Ezra turning around with his head down, blaster in hand, aiming it at Kanan. Zeb's ears flattened in worry, taking a few steps back as he reached for his bo-riffle. Sabine had her hands near one of her blasters, but neither of them wanted to aim.

"Karabast, kid. What are you doin'?"

"Leave." His tone was leveled and calm, but his hand was shaking. Sabine, being shorter than both men, could see tears slip below his hair. She let her hand fall from where her blaster was kept and tried to walk towards Kanan's side, but he flattened his palm, signaling her to stop. Ezra took a deep breath, lifting his head. Zeb pulled his bo-riffle off his back and aimed and Sabine took an audible breath and Kanan just stood still. "I won't ask again.  _Leave._ "

"No." The rooms atmosphere became thick with tension. "We're not leaving until I get an answer. And I know you won't shoot. Drop the blaster, Ezra." When he hesitates, Kanan puts his hand on the blaster and grabs it, but doesn't pull it from his hand. "Ezra, let go." He does and Kanan takes the blaster from him, placing it on the make-shift bed to his left. "Somebody needs to go outside, keep watch for any Imperials trying to find Ezra. Zeb?" Zeb thinks for a moment but nods. As he turns to walk out the door, Sabine coughs.

"I'll go too," Sabine says, pointing her thumb towards the door. She turns and follows Zeb out the door. As it closes, Kanan speaks up.

"Ezra... What happened?" Kanan asked, stepping forward. He reaches out to touch his shoulder, but Ezra stepped backward out of his reach. His hand touched open air and falls. He scoffs and takes a step back.

"There was an issue. I handled it." He said forcefully.

"Well, an 'issue' wouldn't turn your eyes red. Why are they red anyways?" Kanan asked. Even with the two of them, the air was hot and stuffy. The tension was so thick you could easily cut it with a chipped fingernail. "They weren't when we first met you. Ezra,  _what happened?_ " Ezra looks down at his boots, the tips of them still faintly red. He looks back up at Kanan, frowning.

"None of your concern. Now, can you please leave? I'm fine. I just need sleep." He waves Kanan off as he walks towards the make-shift bed to the left of Kanan. Before Kanan could speak again, the door opened.

"Kanan, we got Imperials closing in from the city!" Sabine yells. Ezra freezes, debating on what he should do. Kanan looks towards Ezra, who has laid down on the bed, his back towards the trio. Kanan sighs.

"Let's get out of here." Sabine nods and goes back outside. "Ezra?" Ezra doesn't say anything as he keeps his back towards the man. Kanan sighs as he takes something off his belt. Ezra hears a click and a metallic  _thunk_ as Kanan places something on his work desk and walks out. When the door slides shut, Ezra turns and gets off the bed, walking to what Kanan set down. Ezra lets out a sigh, picking up the lightsaber. As he mumbles, he reaches towards his own lightsaber and opens a drawer to his right. As he pulls out the Holocron, he can finally hear the incoming transports. He closes the drawer, he goes towards the elevator and takes it down to where his speeder was kept. As he hops on, he quickly turns on the cloaking device and speeds away towards the mountains.


	10. Chapter 10

* _The Ghost Crew*_

"What happened?" Hera asked Kanan as he entered the cockpit, finishing preparing the  _Ghost_  to take off. The large ship shook from the blasts from incoming TIEs. Kanan and the rest of the crew, including Chopper, had just boarded the ship, Kanan giving her a heads up when they first realized that the Empire found them. "And did you get Ezra? Is he alright?" The ship jerked as Hera took off, maneuvering to keep out of the TIE's range. Kanan didn't say anything as he went down the ladder to the nose gun. "Kanan?" Hera says as she enters the atmosphere. Two TIEs that were following them burst into a cloud of fire and smoke. She puts the  _Ghost_ into hyperspace and on autopilot when she quietly slides down to the nose gun, Kanan still sitting there. 

"Kanan, love, what's wrong?" She urges, voice sad as she puts a hand on his shoulder. 

"It was so cold, Hera. Too cold." He speaks quietly, keeping his eyes on the hyperspace tunnel. Hera made sure to choose her words correctly as she spoke quietly.

"Kanan, what do you mean?"

"When we first met him, Ezra, he felt cold, like somebody turning to the dark side. When I figured out that he once was a Sith, I figured out why he was so cold. But-" he sighs, trying to find the right words, shaking his head. "It was too cold. So much colder than when I first met him, Hera. Something happened before we came."

"Kanan? Hera?" Sabine says quietly, poking her head from the door to the nose gun. She looks at the two sadly, swallowing. "You need to come and see this..."  Kanan and Hera look at each other, confused, but the two follow Sabine into the commos where the Holonet is playing.

"-And right inside the cargo bay was a giant massacre of four dozen troopers. Footage from the bay shows a rebel killing all these innocent men. If you see Ezra Bridger, immediately tell the Empire. If you hide the rebel Bridger or lie about seeing him, you will be accused of trea-" the Holonet is shut off by sabine, leaving the room in darkness. 

"How do we-" Hera begins to say but is immediately stopped by Sabine. 

"I hacked into the security footage. It was all him. He almost killed the Inquisitor too, but only seemed to injure him. Hera, there were so many. They dropped so fast."

"That's why it was so cold. He killed all of those people." Kanan says, horrified. "He was a weapon of the Empire."

~+~+~+~+~

Ezra didn't know what to do. He knew the  _Ghost Crew_ knew.

He knew the Empire still wanted him as a weapon, and if he went back, who knows how much they would torture him before they started brainwashing him again. 

He was no longer safe on Lothal. 

"Ezra?" Ezra's head shot up at the voice, pulling him from his trance. How long he had been in his meditation room, he didn't know. And who's voice it was? He couldn't tell just yet. "Ezra?" 

It was Kanan's.

"Ezra, listen to me. I know you are. We need to talk about what you did. We can help you, Ezra.  _I_ can help you. Please, Ez-" As he shuts off the communicator, tears start running down his face. He hadn't even moved from the spot, shutting it off with the force by crushing it. 

He had been blamed for the massacre. 

But the issue is, he doesn't even remember doing all that much of it. 

~+~+~+~+~

"It went to static. He destroyed the communicator." Sabine says sadly. 

"Can you try to track it? Where the signal was going to?" Hera asked, pacing. 

"I mean, I can try." As Sabine goes to work, Kanan sighs. 

"I'm going to meditate, see if I can see him." Hera nods as Kanan walks out, going to his room. 

As he sits down, he starts to meditate, focusing on the energy he felt when he was around Ezra. As the feeling gets stronger, it suddenly decreases. "Ezra?" The feeling flashes, sending out a wave of recognition. 

"Kanan?" 

"Ezra-" Kanan starts, feeling Ezra's presence behind him. 

"Don't look for me. Please." Kanan can hear his voice more clearly now, and he tries not to turn around and hug him, even though he can't. It was small and hoarse. He had been crying. 

"Ezra, please. Talk to me." Kanan begged. "I want to know what happened. What you did, that  _wasn't you_. Please, Ezra."

"I-I can't. And it was me. The blood on my hands is mine. I was always told I was going to be a monster. I always have been." Kanan feels the connection fade, so he turns around and stands up, eyes still closed, and hugs Ezra. 

Ezra freezes when he feels arms around him, a small touch at first, but the longer he stands there, the longer they feel as if they solidify. His voice, hoarse and clenched, let out a small, 

"I haven't been hugged since my father was killed. A-and my mother." He lets out a small sniff. "Thank you." 

"Ezra, whatever happens, we will protect you.  _I_ will protect you. I know what it's like, on the streets alone, while being Force-sensitive. Bounty on your head." Ezra laughs. 

"A lot of people don't." Kanan laughs, echoing Ezra. 

"No, they don't." They stand there, Ezra letting the feeling of being protected again, a feeling he hasn't felt since his father died, and Kanan stood there, knowing that this was all the comfort he could give Ezra until he was ready to open up. He lets go of Ezra, sitting back down. He feels a small gust of air as Ezra sits across from him, facing him. Kanan opens his eyes, looking at him. It was almost just like looking at the real thing. He could see the puffiness of his eyes and lips. He was right. He had been crying.

"Are you willing to talk about it?" Ezra shakes his head, looking back down at the loth-cat. "Are you willing to come to the  _Ghost_?" Ezra hesitates, but nods. "You'll share a room with me, alright?" Ezra nods. There's a knock at Kanan's door and he sighs. "It's Hera."

"Go. I'll try to be there by sunset." Kanan nods. As the door opens, the vision of Ezra disappears and Kanan blinks, letting his eyes adjust to the bright light coming in through the door. 

"Sorry, I thought-" Kanan looks towards her, shaking his head. 

"No, you're fine." Hera walks in, sitting down in front of him.

"Did you...?" Kanan nods. 

"He should be here by sunset. He'll be staying in my room in case something happens." Hera nods, but then makes a face of confusion. 

"Why not Zeb's?" Kanan laughs, standing up. 

"I don't think he'd appreciate Zeb's snoring. And," Kanan sighs, helping Hera up, "when I finally had a place to call my own, I had nightmares. Bad ones, from my time on the street. What Ezra must have gone through when being a kid at the Imperial Academy, being trained as a Sith?" Kanan shakes his head. "I can't imagine what he went through." Hera nods in understanding. 

"Alright. I'll be calculating our route if you need me. I'll tell Sabine and Zeb." Kanan nods. The room is flooded with light before it disappears again, leaving him in as much darkness as before. 


	11. Chapter 11

As Hera puts the Ghost in Lothal's atmosphere, masking their signature, they land in the mountains where Chopper has detected where Ezra's 'hideout' was. Kanan cleared out the cabinet of the top bunk, making room for anything small Ezra had. When he finished, he went and sat down on the ramp of the Ghost watching the sunset between the mountains, the bright light shining off the snowy tops of the mountains. 

"My dad and I used to watch the sunset here before he died. We took my mom a couple of times, but it seemed to always be our spot. Our little hideaway from the Empire." Kanan smiles up at Ezra, who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Ezra sits down next to Kanan but leaves a good amount of space between them.

"What was it like? Before the Empire came?" Kanan looks over at him, but Ezra's eyes were trained on the top of the mountains. He was going to ask again, but Ezra began to speak, cutting him off before he could speak again. 

"From what my parents told me, not good. We were in economic disrepair. People were starving, everybody would be robbed at least three times a week. Most kids didn't make it to ten." Ezra's face becomes solemn and Kanan can easily feel the sadness coming off him. Ezra takes a shaky breath. "People were dying. The Empire was invited by the person who was ruling us right then. I- I don't remember his name (AKA author was too lazy to look it up). But many people thought they'd help. Rebuild Lothal to what it was." Ezra shook his head. "Some people knew what the Empire was doing to the rest of the galaxy. They tried to stop. People spoke out. Everybody else found out too late that they were right." Kanan hesitates before he speaks, wondering if Ezra was going to say anything else. When he doesn't, he trains his eyes on the darkening sky. 

"And your parents?" 

"They tried to speak out." And that's all he said. Kanan let the subject be, knowing exactly what he meant. They sat there until all they could see where the stars. 

~+~+~+~+~

Kanan leads Ezra to his room, their shoes making quiet little  _thunks_ on the metal floor, and they echo off the walls. The door slides open and Kanan leads him to the bunk. 

"I have the bottom one, so you'll have the top. I cleaned out the draws on the side of the bed, so anything small you can fit in here." Kanan looks at what Ezra may have, but he only has a small bag, no larger than a loth-cat. Ezra smiles. 

"Yeah, I don't have much." Kanan nods and motions him to toss it on the bed. 

"We're probably eating soon. You gonna come?" Ezra climbs up onto the bed, throwing his arm over his eyes, and lays down. 

"I'm not hungry. Thanks." Kanan makes a face even though Ezra couldn't see it, but he feels the confusion come from Kanan. 

"You sure?"

"Yep." Kanan nods slowly, walking towards the door. 

"Call if you need anything." Ezra lifts an arm and gives him a thumbs up. Kanan sighs and leaves. The second the door shuts, Ezra sits up, looking around the small room. He jumps down from the bunk and runs his hands along the bottom of Kanan's bed. As the drawer pops open, he stands and reaches inside his small bag and pulls out Kanan's lightsaber and Holocron. He places the two items gently into the drawer and closes it. He stands and climbs back into his bunk. Sleep never came easily for Ezra, but the minute his head hit the pillow, the nightmares began. 

~+~+~+~+~

As Kanan walks into the commons, he sits down in front of a plate with food that hasn't been touched yet. He stares at it, but sighs. 

"What's wrong, love?" Hera asks. Kanan looks in front of him, staring at Hera. 

"Do you think I made the right choice?" He asks, worried. He picks up a bit of food and puts it in his mouth and chews it slowly, watching Hera. 

"I don't know. Maybe you did. Maybe you made the right choice of bringing in Ezra and letting him have a home where there are people to protect him and make sure he's alright. But on the other hand, he may not want our help. It's no longer up to you. It's up to him." She smiles, standing up. "Vizago gave us another mission." Kanan raises his eyebrows in surprise. 

"Is it the-" Hera nods, smile even wider. 

"It's the Wookiees. We leave in the morning for the Imperial _Gozanti_ -class cruiser carrying the Wookiees." Kanan leans back in his seat, laughing. Hera looks at him funny but doesn't say anything. 

"Does our fearless pilot have a plan?" Hera raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms. 

"She does. Would you like to hear it?"  Kanan nods, smile fading, but still faintly there. Before Hera could tell him, they hear a scream. Hera looks at Kanan in surprise and fear. 

"Ezra." Kanan breathes out.  He quickly stands and runs towards his room, Hera not too far behind. As Kanan enters his room, he can only see Ezra's back. He hears labored breathing, but no sign of crying, but Kanan could, even without the force, tell he was. 

"Ezra?" Kanan whispers, slowly approaching the boy. "Ezra? Are you alright?" Ezra lifts his hand away from, most likely his mouth, and waves him off. Kanan watches as he nods, but sees him stifle a sob. "Ezra-"

"Ge-Get out." Kanan freezes, arms still reached towards the boy. "I'm fine." He breathes, a shaky breath following. "It's fine-" Kanan shakes his head. 

"It doesn't seem fine."

"I'm fine." Ezra barks, turning to face Kanan.  Kanan's face falls. Ezra's face was as red as his eyes. Ezra realized too late that he was facing Hera, who had been in the door frame the whole time, and Kanan. He turns back around. "Please.  _Leave_."

"No." Kanan turns and looks at Hera in surprise, but them smiles at her. She smiles in return, but as she walks in, she drops it, giving Ezra her Mother Voice (™). "When you joined this crew, Ezra, you joined a family. And family doesn't walk out on each other. No matter the cost." She walks to the ladder of the bunk and climbs up it. She sits on the edge and doesn't make a move to touch Ezra. 

"I'm not a part of this family. I don't have one. I never have and I never will." Ezra mutters, moving away from Hera. 

"Too bad. You have one now. Whether you like it," she shrugs. "Or not." She looks at Ezra, tone softening, and smiles. "But it's up to you whether or not you decide to stay. Because what you do isn't up to us. What you do will always be up to you." Hera hops down, feet light as they hit the floor. She starts to walk out but is stopped by a voice. 

"Hera?" She turns around, eyebrows raised. She watches him give her a small smile and she returns it. "Thank you." She nods and leaves, the door shutting behind her. Ezra and Kanan stay still, looking at each other. Ezra turns his back to him again, laying down. "I'm going to try to go back to sleep." Kanan nods, walking towards his bunk. 

"I should too. We have a mission tomorrow." Kanan can feel the curiosity coming off but waits for him to ask. 

"What is it?"

"We're going to save Wookiee prisoners that fought with the Jedi with the Republic."

"Oh," Ezra says. Kanan thinks that Ezra had more to say, but shrugs it off. Once he gets comfortable, Ezra speaks again. "I remember hearing about them. They're supposed to go to the Spice Mines." Kanan tenses.

" _The_ Spice Mines?" Ezra sighs. 

"Yeah. Maybe we can get to them on the transport before they get there. Nobody should ever go there." Ezra says bitterly. "It shouldn't even exist."

"I'm with you there." They lay there in silence, both trying to fall asleep. With no success, Kanan sits up, meditating. Ezra doesn't say anything about it, so Kanan supposes that he's asleep. As he reaches out, he feels Hera in the cockpit, happy and tired, most likely with Chopper, putting in the coordinates for tomorrow's mission. Zeb and Sabine in their respective rooms, Zeb sleeping and relaxed, and Sabine sleepy, but relaxed and content, most likely finishing up a painting. Their central Force (Okay so I don't know what it is actually called so shhh) warm, but guarded. 

He reaches out to Ezra, but all he can feel is cold and he can't feel any emotions coming from him. 

"You won't feel anything." Kanan jumps out of his trance, surprised. 

"I thought you were asleep?" Kanan says, still surprised. He can hear Ezra shift around on the bunk above him and watches as he slides down the ladder. He walks towards the center of the room, facing Kanan, and sits down like he was, or is, going to meditate. As he closes his eyes, Kanan can feel something a small string wrap around his head. It's soft and doesn't do anything but play. But behind it, Kanan can feel small bits of fear, anger, and loneliness. 

"I can make you feel what you want to feel and show you what I want to show you." The string-like feeling goes away and Kanan opens his eyes because apparently, he closed them. He looks at Ezra in confusion. He nods. "Try it." 

"I don't-" Ezra gives him a hard look, eyes narrowing. 

"Try it." Kanan sighs, closing his eyes. He lets a single thread of himself go to Ezra, poking at his walls (Force walls built 'around' a force users head to protect their mind from probing from the force; idk if this is canon or not but I've seen it somewhere). Ezra laughs. "You can do better than that." Kanan sighs, frustrated.

"I don't want to intrude on any of your memories." Kanan opens his eyes, looking at Ezra. The boy had been staring at him the whole time, completely unaffected. 

"I can show you what I only want to show you." Kanan sighs, nodding. He closes his eyes and tries again, this time looking for a break in Ezra's mind walls. When he does find it, he enters it suddenly and is immediately pushed out by Ezra. He only saw glimpses of a memory, but right now, he wished he hadn't. 

"What," He speaks, shaking. "What did you see?" Kanan swallows, uncrossing his legs and leaning back against the wall of his bunk. 

"You were young. Maybe a year or two younger than you are now. You were caught and tortured for treason. You almost died." Ezra nods. He had placed his head in his hands, breathing labored. "You didn't have to show me that." Ezra shakes his head, not looking up. 

"I can show you what I only want to show you. I wanted to." Kanan shakes his head. 

"No, there's a reason." He stares at Ezra, thinking. Then, it clicks. "You want me to trust you." Kanan sighs. "You don't have to show me memories you're not comfortable sharing if you don't want to. Remember Ezra, everything you do, it's usually your choice. When you don't have one and you're forced to do it." Kanan shrugs. "Than it wasn't you." Ezra nods in understanding. 

"Alright." He stands, climbing up the ladder again. "I'm going to try and sleep now." Kanan hears him position himself, but then it goes quiet. "Goodnight, Kanan." 

"Good night, Ezra." Kanan lays down, closing his eyes, trying to focus on the memory that he saw a glimpse of before the one Ezra had shown him. It was just a glimpse, but he promised himself he would do anything he could to see a smile like that on Ezra again. Before his parents were killed. And before he became a weapon of the Empire. He would help Ezra, even if it meant it would kill him. 

 


	12. Chapter 12

"Got it?" Kanan says, turning off the hologram of the ship. Sabine and Zeb nod while Chopper makes a couple of beeps in confirmation. "Ezra said-"

"Please, how can we trust anything he says?" Zeb says, gutting his finger over to the shadow in the corner. He shifts, uncomfortable that all the attention was on him. Kanan shakes his head.

"Yeah, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Zeb," Sabine states, crossing her arms. "For all we know, he could still be working for them and we could very well be walking into a trap.

"You can't." Ezra walks out of the shadowy corner, frowning. "For all you know, you're correct. I could be handing you over. But even if that was my goal, I wouldn't be paid or congratulated for capturing you. I'd be taken right along with you and be killed long before you because I don't know anything you do and I'd be tortured for every act of treason, privately and publicly, before I was killed. So, even if I were turning you in, I'd be signing my death wish." Sabine and Zeb look at him, surprised. Hera just stares at Kanan, worried.

"Ezra," She speaks quietly, looking towards the boy. "Could this be a trap?" Ezra nods.

"Of course. For all we know, the information given to Vizago is a trap, but that is also what I heard, but I heard they were going to the Spice Mines. I don't know if they would be on the ship. Not even using the Force. I would have to know who I'm looking for. I can't just go wookiees and see where they are." Ezra rolls his eyes, earning a glare from Kanan. He ducks his head. "Sorry."

"No, you're right. I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry." Ezra nods at Hera, smiling a little.

"Anyways," Kanan says, trying to ease the tension. "We have to be prepared for a trap. They'll most likely cut off communication, so we have to get this plane down." The Specters, and Ezra, nod in unison and understanding.

"Get ready," Hera speaks, standing. "We exit hyperspace soon. Suit up." As the Specters leave to gather their weapons and explosives, Hera asks Ezra to stay back. "Hey, about earlier-"

"No, Sabine and Zeb are right to question me. It's fine." Hera shakes her head sadly as she sees the sadness in Ezra's eyes.

"But we shouldn't doubt. You're risking your life to be here. You could be hiding, but you're helping us take down the Empire. That should be enough for them to trust you."

"It takes more than that to just trust someone. It's never that easy." Ezra begins to walk out, and before he does, though, Hera whispers,

"But it should be." Ezra pauses, but continues anyway, going to Kanan and his's room to suit up. Before he enters, he wipes the few tears that escaped his eyes, and then does, putting on his face and walks in. As Kanan looks over at him, eyeing his face, he purses his lips and doesn't say anything. Ezra, thankful that he doesn't, climbs up the bunk bed and sits down, back to the door, and meditates. Kanan, already sitting on his bed, closes his eyes, trying to feel what Ezra was without startling the young boy, or getting to close to his head that he could sense him.

"You know," Ezra speaks, startling the man. "It'd just be easier if you'd ask." Kanan laughs.

"No, it wouldn't." Ezra scoffs. "Alright," Kanan remarks. "What's wrong?" Although hesitant, Ezra knows he probably should tell Kanan. "And remember, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to." Ezra laughs.

"I said it'd be easier to ask than snooping around my head."

"But if you don't want to, you don't have to." Ezra sighs defeated almost, against himself. He's usually never given a choice.

"They don't trust me," Ezra says sadly. He shakes his head, trying not to sound like he wants them to like him. He doesn't. He doesn't. "It's not an issue, it's just if the time comes, I may be the person who doesn't get to go back home."

"Ezra-" He knows what's coming, so he tries to lighten the mood.

"I got loth-cats to feed. There's mountain-"

"Ezra-"

"There's gray-"

"Ezra-"

"And little baby-"

"Ezra!" Ezra immediately shuts his mouth, shaking.

"I'm sorry." He whispers. Kanan sighs, just realizing what he had done.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. You're just trying to brush it off like it's no big deal, but if that time ever comes, and blast if it does, I'll make sure you get back to your loth-cats." Ezra smiles sadly.

"Alright."

"Now, if you're ready, we got some wookiees to rescue."

~+~+~+~+~+~

"You have to go warn them," Hera yells hurridly, trying to get out of the tractor beam.

"You know I can't! And they already know it's a trap. If I go in, I may as well be signing my death wish!" Ezra yells back, standing from the chair, Kanan's, and paces the small space of the cockpit.

"If all you do is fight for your own life, then your life is worth nothing. They need you, Ezra. They need you right now. And I need to ready the Ghost for an escape." Ezra groans, quickly running to Kanan's room and grabbing his saber. He runs to where the Ghost had docked with the cruiser and easily ran into Kanan and Zeb. Literally. He smiles at them, trying to catch his breath.

"Was I right?" Kanan scoffs, but nods.

"Stormtroopers were waiting for us where the wookiees were supposed to be held. Sabine and Chopper should almost be finished up." As they begin to run back to the Ghost, having a little anti-gravity fight with some stormtroopers, Sabine and Chopper join them.

"No wookiees?" Sabine pants, easily keeping up with the group, Chopper rolling next to her.

"No wookiees. Most likely already at the Spice Mines. Ezra was right, it was a trap." Kanan says, running in front of the Specters and Ezra. As they get to the door, Ezra can easily hear footsteps of, most likely, 12 stormtroopers, led by Agent Kallus.

They didn't have enough time.

"Sabine, man the nose gun. We're going to need a quick escape." Sabine nods, running in front of Kanan to get to the door before him. When Ezra stops, Chopper and Zeb were already inside the Ghost when blaster shots started going off. Ezra pulls out his lightsaber, deflecting the red blasts with his own red saber. Kallus barks orders for the troopers to get the rebels and him, but all Ezra can do is deflect the blasts without letting them hit either him or Kanan.

"Go!" He looks back at Kanan. "I'll hold them back."

"Ezra, you-" But before he could get Ezra to change his mind, he's pushed into the Ghost and the door closes. Kanan sits there, stunned. It had been the second time Era had saved them.

"Airlock shut and locked. We're out of here." Kanan feels the ship jerk away from the shuttle and out of the tractor beam, and when they're far enough, he hears an explosion.

"How's it look? I can't see it from here?" There's no reply. Kanan stands walking towards the cockpit, mind blank.

"Hera, where's Kanan?" Hera looks over her shoulder, the doors to the cockpit had been opened, and Kanan stands there, looking lost. Hera, although concerned, starts setting the coordinates for a hyperspace jump.

"He's in here with me. Get ready to jump into hyperspace." When she finishes, she jumps, the black sky turning blue. Kanan had sat down in his chair, trying to still figure out what happened. Hera turns on autopilot and turns towards the man. Before she can speak, Zeb and Sabine enter the cockpit.

"So, where to?" Sabine asks, sitting down in her respective chair and Zeb doing the same.

"We're heading back to Lothal to refuel to go to the Spice Mines," Hera replies.

"Hey, where's the kid?" Sabine and Hera look at Kanan, who sits there looking at the middle of the floor.

"He's gone." He whispers, just audible. All three Specters look at him incredulously.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Hera asks.

"He made sure we got inside the Ghost and closed the airlock before I could help him." Hera shakes her head.

"I don't understand. What happened?" As Kanan explains, both Sabine and Zeb look guilty, for they had not trusted the boy, and Hera just looks sad. When he finishes, they sit in silence. Hera is the first one to break the silence.

"What are we going to do?"

~+~+~+~+~+~

"I. Don't. Know. Anything." Ezra says, voice as level as it could be, but venom laces every word. The Inquisitor paces around him as two stormtroopers and Agent Kallus stands in the corner of the small, dark room, and a probe floats nearby.

"We'll see about that." The Inquisitor moves the probe to shock him again, injecting more force suppressants. As bolts of lighting move through his body, screams louder than they were an hour ago, Ezra's body starts to give out, and he can feel the Inquisitor trying to see what's in his head. He growls. "I taught you well. Too well, it seems." As the electricity turns off, Kallus begins to speak.

"Inquisitor, I hope you have a solution to the fact that the probe is doing nothing to him." The Inquisitor looks back at him, face unchanged and solemn.

"Pain. He still feels pain. And pain can break anyone." He smirks as he reaches out with his left hand, his right wrist still not usable, as he tries to force himself into Ezra's mind. Ezra yells in pain, grunting, as he tries his best to keep his walls up as they crumble by the second.

"Show me your rebel friends."

"No," Ezra says as pain laces through his head, the strain becoming too much. "Leave them alone! Kanan!" He yells, immediately regretting it. He had just given away the one person who trusted him. Well, might as well try. He thinks as he reaches out with whatever energy he has left to Kanan, trying to get him to see where he is. Unbeknownst to the Inquisitor, he smiles.

"What do you see?" He puts more pressure in his head.

"I see..." More.

"Go on."

"I see... You... growing more and more frustrated." The Inquisitor pulls back angrily, the pressure immediately gone from Ezra's head as he laughs, rolling his head around, eyes glinting both blue and red. The Inquisitor's face turns blank again as he frowns, but anger still lingers in his eyes.

"Perceptive. Let's see what you can do to alleviate my frustration." As he is shocked, longer and more powerful this time, Kallus rolls his eyes in the corner.

"He's no good to us dead, Inquisitor." He looks over to Kallus and nods a little, turning back to Ezra and shuts off the electricity. As Kallus walks towards an exhausted Ezra, he stops next to the Inquisitor.

"In time, he will break. If not, then he shall live what happens to those who betray the Empire." Kallus nods and begins to walk out. Before he opens the door, though, Ezra laughs.

"You won't kill me." He looks up at Kallus, smiling. "I am of use to the Empire. You forget what I can do." All of a sudden, Kallus begins to claw at his throat and for a brief second, a flash of fear crosses the Inquisitor's eyes. The troopers aim their blasters on Ezra, but he lets Kallus go, leaving him on his knees coughing, rubbing his throat.

"You will never use me as a weapon again as long as I live." The Inquisitor looks at him, angry, and grabs another syringe and stabs it into the boy.

"We will see." As he pulls it out, Ezra goes limp, being knocked unconscious by what was in the syringe.

"I hope you have a solution for this, Inquisitor." Kallus croaks out, voice still rough form, you know, being choked.

"I do, Agent. And it will happen. In time. But first, we must make sure that he has nobody and nothing will be there for him. If he returns."

~+~+~+~+~+~

"Kanan, what's wrong?" The four, including Chopper, had been discussing what to do about Ezra. Both Sabine and Zeb believe it would be a trap, and they would get caught along with him, but Hera and Kanan knew that they had to save him before something happened.

"Ezra. Something's wrong." The three look at him funny.

"What do you mean, mate?"

"He reached out... With-with the Force I mean. He was caught, and he's weak. I- I can't feel him anymore." Kanan's face falls. He looks over at Hera. "We have to try." Sabine looks over at Zeb as he nods. She sighs.

"Alright, we'll go." Hera smiles at the two.

"Prepare what you'll need. I'll calculate the hyperspace jump as soon as possible." As the two leave, Hera turns back to Kanan, smiling. "It'll be okay, Kanan. We'll find him." Kanan nods, turning forwards, looking at endless space.

"What if we're too late?" He asks, not looking at Hera. She doesn't respond as endless space turns into a blinding tunnel back to Lothal.


	13. Chapter 13

"Enough!" Agent Kallus yells. The Inquisitor clenches his jaw and stops the electricity going through the boy. Ezra groans and goes limp, but not unconscious. "It is obvious that you are not getting anywhere with this, Inquisitor. It's my turn." The Inquisitor nods, not looking at the man.

"Have your fun, Agent. He will not have much longer." The Inquisitor walks out, leaving the door open.

"I'm counting on it." The Agent says, following the Inquisitor out, not even giving Ezra a second glance. When the door shuts, Ezra releases his restraints and falls to the floor in a quiet thump. As he stands up with much help from the wall, Ezra closes his eyes and muffles a yell, but then the wounds from the time he had been held vanished and the pain disappears almost immediately. Exhausted, he stands up, the wall no longer fully supporting him, but still keeping him upright, and walks towards the door and opens it using the Force. The troopers guarding his door turn and look at him in surprise and didn't shoot fast enough. Ezra takes one of the blasters and knocks out one trooper while avoiding a blast from the other. Ezra ducks and turns, sweeping the trooper down and quickly switches the blaster to stun and shoots both of them. Ezra crouches and takes off the first trooper's helmet and dismantles the COM and puts it back on. He picks up the man and tosses him into the cell and takes the second trooper's helmet before he tosses her into the cell, a little more carefully than the male. She didn't have a helmet on anymore. There's no use in giving a stormtrooper a concussion. As the door shuts and locks, Ezra slips on the helmet and tunes into the frequency of the ship. As he listens to check in's and shift change calls, Ezra hears something that pikes his interest. 

"The delay was insignificant. The transport ship Agent Kallus diverted will dock on Kessel within two hours. The Wookiees will be off-loaded to work spice mine K-77." Ezra groans and looks around for an air vent. When he finds one, he unlocks it and jumps in. As he shuts it and starts to crawl his way to a docking bay, he hears more conversation. 

"This is stormtrooper LS-005 reporting to Agent Kallus."

"Kallus here."

"Sir, LS-704, and LS-705 never checked in." He sounded nervous.

"The ones guarding the boy's cell?" And he sounded very, very angry. Ezra smiles and holds back his laughter. 

"Yes, sir."

"How did he-"

"Agent Kallus. There's a security breach in the lower hanger." A voice interrupts Kallus. 

"The rebels." Kallus growls. Ezra pauses in the vents and closes his eyes. He focuses what the Force had sung to him when he first met Kanan and concentrates. 

"Kanan?" When he doesn't feel Kanan's presence, he tries again. He reaches out farther, making sure to not get caught by the Inquisitor, although he's probably already looking for him, and tries again. 

"Ezra?" He smiles. He was finally able to do it. Ezra begins to crawl again and begins to speak to Kanan in his head. 

"Ezra, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Are you guys attacking the cruiser?"

"No." Ezra opens his eyes, confused. If they weren't attacking the cruiser, who was? But he wasn't able to ask Kanan when the vent from under him collapsed and saw four figures standing around him before he was stunned. 

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

"Kanan, what's wrong?" Hera asks, looking over at him, concerned. 

"Ezra. He reached out to me and... the connection. It's gone." Kanan says, exasperated. Hera nods although she has no idea what Kanan means. Well, she does, but she has better things to do right now. Like, you know, not get shot down by TIE fighters. But hey, that's just her.

"Sabine, I need you to cover me. Chopper?" Hera doesn't get a response from the droid, but one from Zeb.

"Chopper's down. A blast from one of the TIE's fried his circuits." He responds, voice frantic as he tries to slap the fire away. He grabs the Phantom's handles and starts to fire at the incoming TIE's. He cheers as he gets one as well as Sabine. 

"Got you a window Hera. Better take it!" Sabine yells. 

"Making the jump." And as the open space turns into a hyperspace tunnel, the Ghost crew heads back to Lothal.

"How was that not the correct ship?" Sabine asks, walking into the cockpit. She sits down in her chair, turning it side to side. 

"The information Vizago gave us-" Hera begins, but is cut off by Sabine.

"Was wrong! For the second time, Hera. Where does he even get information like that?"

"Bounty hunters, Imperial files, Sabine, not all information will be right because sometimes the Empire isn't stupid and they are able to code the information and sometimes that code gets mixed up. It's not his fault. We'll find him. I promise." The four sit there in silence. 

Kanan stands and leaves, leaving the three in silence. He walks to his room and opens the door and walks in, shutting it. He sits down and tries to meditate, trying to find Ezra. When he reaches out to what he had felt when Ezra got to him, all he felt was... nothing. 

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

"Where am I?" Ezra speaks, voice hoarse from all the yelling from the days of torture. He tries to sit up, but the doctor, a human, tries to keep him down. 

"We healed as much as we could, but your body needs to heal itself. You need bed rest." Ezra shakes his head. 

"No, I need to get back to the Ghost crew." Ezra pushes the man back, using his arms. His connection to the Force was faint. He was vulnerable. Too vulnerable. At least his physical strength is okay. 

"Please, sir, stay in bedrest." The man walks towards him, but both of their heads turn to the door when it opens.

"Thank you, Blaive, but I can take it from here." The man nods.

"Yes, Commander Tano." As the man leaves, Ahsoka steps aside to let him through the door. When it shuts, Ezra stars at her. 

"You could have told me you were going to pick me up in the shuttle." Ahsoka sighs, walking into the med-bay. 

"You knew as well as I do I couldn't. The inquisitor would have sensed me reaching out to you. Unlike you, I cannot cover that." Ezra says, sitting up and crosses his legs to let Ahsoka sit down on the small, white bed. 

"I told you I'd teach you if you ever needed me to." Ahoska shakes her head, pursing her lips. Ezra sighs, rubbing his head. "My wounds shall heal soon and the Ghost crew will come looking for me."

"I'm aware."

"And?" 

"We are arranging transportation for you back to Lothal as we speak." Ezra shakes his head, sighing. 

"When will you tell them?" Ahsoka stands.

"We are unsure whether or not it is safe." She stands, faces blank, but Ezra can tell she's more upset about it than him. She would love to meet Kanan and Hera, but the higher-ups won't let them due to "security and secrecy reasons". "I will come for you myself when transportation is ready. You are free to roam the ship as you please." Ezra nods and Ahsoka walks out the door and leaves Ezra in silence, looking out the window to the endless space.

~+~+~+~+~+~

As Ezra walks out of the med-bay, his usually dirty clothes rather clean, nobody is in the halls. Not surprised, he starts to walk towards the data room. Seeing very few people on the way, he spaces out, trying to think of a plan to get back to the others. If someone had told him a year ago that he would be freely walking a Rebel ship with no weapon in hand, he would have told them maybe. But two years ago? He would have told you that you were crazy. 

"Lieutenant Bridger." Ezra turns to the person who had sneaked up behind him. But to be fair, he did space out. "Commander Tano and the others would like you on the bridge for the briefing and your mission update." Ezra nods. 

"After you."

"Yes, sir." The messenger nods his head and begins to walk the way he came and Ezra turns and walks behind him. Walking, feet oddly quiet on the cold metal floor, Ezra makes sure to keep his walls up, trying to make sure the Inquisitor, Kanan, or even Ahsoka can sense him. As the two near the door to the bridge, the message stands outside the door across from another messenger. Why messengers were acting as guards, Ezra didn't really have an idea. But he did have one. As he enters the bridge, he quickly takes note as to who is in it before he speaks.

"Are we low on men?" Ezra questions, looking towards Commander Sato. The conversation that was going on immediately stops and all attention on him. Ezra puts his hands behind his back and squeezes his left wrist with his right hand. Clenching his jaw, he keeps his head high and keeps his face emotionless. "The two men outside are messengers, not guards. I didn't see one person walking here." Ezra tries to keep his eyes off of Ahsoka as he walks to the holotable, knowing he's getting the look of "You sound like an Imperial officer when you do this" look. 

"We are, Lieutenant Bridger." Commander Sato speaks, pulling up a list of names. Ezra's hand begins to twitch as he stands there. The red and green names scroll past, not much of the latter. "We were attacked before we exited hyperspace here. We took heavy casualties. We haven't been able to return to base yet because we need to make repairs." Ezra nods.

"And how long until repairs are...repaired?" He questions, pulling up the log of the ship. He takes a deep breath, seeing all the damage. Engines, hyperspace drive, and among others, everything is either close to being un-repairable or completely un-repairable.

"Days, if not weeks." Commander Sato says deflated. 

"We are as low on men as we are food," Ahsoka speaks up. "We are trying our best to ration what rations we have left to men who work day and night to try and get the repairs done."

"Then what's taking so long?" He looks around the bridge and realizes that everybody was paying attention to him. Staring at him. Ezra's breathe caught in his throat. "Leave us." He chokes out, hoping it didn't sound that way. As everybody in the bridge left, except for Sato and Ahsoka, Ezra took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Trying to center himself, he reached out to the Force and imagined himself in his cave where he usually meditated. But, instead of going there, he ended up opening his eyes in Kanan's cabin. As he opened his eyes, he looked right into Kanan's. 

"Ezra?" Kanan whispered, confused. Ezra immediately cut the connection off. Why would the Force put him in the Ghost? Well, he probably knew why, but he had said no.

"Go." Someone whispered. Ezra shot his head up, looking at the other two people in the room.

"What?" Sato looks at Ahsoka confused. He shakes his head. 

"We didn't say anything." The two look at Ezra as he rubs his temples, sighing.

"You know what? I- I can't concentrate right now. We'll pick this up tomorrow morning." Turning to leave, the voice gets louder. 

"Go." Ezra turns around to look at the two, breath uneven. He stares at them, not saying a word, looking between the two. He knows they haven't said a word. 

"No, we haven't. Ezra, are you sure you're alright?" Ahsoka asks, walking towards him. He takes a step backward, shaking his head. Ahsoka pauses her advancement. 

"I- I'm fine. Just tired." He turns back around and walks towards the door, but this time, the voice screams it.

"GO!" Ezra screams, clutching his head as he falls to the floor. Images he can't make out flash in his head as Ahsoka runs over to him and Sato goes to call for the med-bay, but Ahsoka stops him, saying its a Jedi thing. 

"Ezra, what are you doing?" It's Hera's voice.

"Ezra, stop!" It's Kanan's voice.

"Ezra, don't do this!" Sabine's. 

"NO!" Kanan's. 

"Ezra." Zeb's. 

"Ezra." His mother's.

"Ezra." His father's. 

"Ezra!" Ahsoka's. "Ezra? Wake up!" Ezra shoots up, hyperventilating, as tears stream down his face. "Ezra, what happened?" He can vaguely feel a cool pack on his head and Ahsoka holding his shoulders. As he calms down, he focuses on the hand rubbing up and down his back. 

"Visions. Visions I couldn't see, but could hear and feel." Ezra whispers after he knew his voice wouldn't crack. Ahsoka doesn't look at him oddly like he thought she would, but nods. 

"What did you hear and feel?" Ezra shakes his head. 

"I don't remember most of it, but fear. Mostly fear." Ahsoka nods. 

"Alright, well, you weren't out long, so try to meditate on it, yeah? I'll be back later to check on you."

"No, I'll be fine." Ezra sits up and crosses his legs, getting into a meditative position.

"Ezra..." She tries to argue, but Ezra looks at her.

"That's an order." Clenching her jaw, she nods. He knew she hated it when he did that. Blast, he hated it when he had to pull rank.

"Very well, Lieutenant Bridger." She nods and walks out the door, leaving a slight trace of anger behind. When the door shuts, Ezra sighs. As he holds his head in his hands, he tries to remember the visions. Yes, he had felt fear, but also anger, hate, surprise, and death. Something was going to happen, and the Force was telling him to go and protect the crew. He still doesn't understand, but he knew if it came to the point of the Force yelling at him, he would go. 

Sighing, he takes a deep breath and focuses on Kanan. Almost immediately, as he opens his eyes, he sits across from the older Jedi on the floor of the Ghost. Sensing him, Kanan opens his eyes. 

"Ezra?"

"Hey, Kanan. I'm gonna need a pickup. We got some wookiees to save."


	14. Chapter 14

"Latching to the airlock," Hera calls through the COM as the Ghost locks the escape pod to the airlock. Ezra feels the small escape pod shake as the air decompresses and the door opens. Ezra is met with an empty hallway.

"So much for a warm welcome..." He mumbles, walking towards the Ghost's common room. As he enters, he's met with an angry Sabine lecturing to an apologetic Zeb.

"You know I can't fix droids! And what was I supposed to do? Hand hold the rust bucket?" Sabine rolls her eyes, scoffing.

"Hera had told you to get to the Phantom!" She shoots back.

"I was asleep!" Yelling, the two hadn't noticed Ezra come in.

"You know if you do this..." Ezra speaks up, connecting two different wires and replacing a panel, Chopper turns on, scaring Sabine. He begins to speak droid quickly, sticking out his droid arm. Ezra laughs. "Hey, hey. It's okay Chopper. You're on the  _Ghost_ bud. You're good." As Chopper begins to chill out, both Hera and Kanan come into the common room. 

"Where'd you learn to do that? Thought you were a TIE pilot in the Empire?" Hera asks. Ezra knows that she means well, feeling the immense curiosity coming off her, but below that, it almost felt like a jab. Ezra thought he had gained her trust. Seems his little escape made the trust take two steps back. 

"Hera! You don't just  _ask_ someone that!" Sabine hisses, giving Hera a look. Ezra turns and looks at her, smiling.

"It's fine, Sabine. She's just curious." Sabine stares at him and scoffs, but doesn't say anything else. He turns back to Hera but stares at Chopper, the droid also 'talking' to her about asking someone that. They may take offense. "Yes, I was a pilot, but  _after_ I escaped the Empire, traveling planet to planet, I came across a moon where I learned from someone there that taught me how to fix droids and I worked with them until the Empire came to grow some crop used in their nutritional supplements. They came because they thought it was  _expendable._ " He spits the word out like it was poison, face angry. "As their  _nutrition_ grew, it took nutrients out of the soil. It began to become useless. The farmers couldn't grow anything. And, no surprise, the Empire did not provide any kind fertilizer to help us...them. Nothing to help them." Ezra growls. Kanan steps forward, trying to calm the boy down. 

"Ezra, it's alright. Just, take a deep breath." Kanan takes a deep breath and Ezra follows, his not so smooth and even like his. Taking a shaky breath and letting it out, clenching and unclenching his fists, he sits down, rubbing his head. 

"I'm sorry. It's just..." Ezra sighs. "Anyways, I found out where the wookiees are actually being held. If we change our course now, we can get to them in time." As the crew sits there in silence, Chopper pipes up with a,

_"Where?"_

"The spice mines of Kessel." And Zeb says what everybody is thinking.

"Karabast."

~+~+~+~+~+~

"Go, go, go!" Kanan yells, steadying himself with the help of the  _Ghosts'_  walls as it moves side to side, shaking as it's shot with blasters. As Ezra, Zeb, and Sabine jump out of the  _Ghost,_ Kanan not too far behind, the four crouch down behind a wall of crates. TIEs go after the  _Ghost,_ so Hera has to turn away from the battle, not giving the rebels cover. Kanan quickly grabs his COM.

"Hera?"

"I couldn't maintain position." Kanan clenches his jaw.

"Give yourself some maneuvering room. We still need to get to the wookiees." Kanan looks back above the crates and ducks before his head is shot off. 

"I am not leaving you behind!" Hera yells. Ezra looks towards the sky as a  _boom_ comes from above them.

"No, you're not. We're running a 22- Pickup." Sabine groans and Zeb's ears flatten. 

"Alright. I'll be back. Signal me when you're ready." Kanan puts his COM away and looks towards a group of cargo container's, seeing if any of them could hold a number of wookiees and the rebels. Ezra begins to think of a plan, knowing Kanan won't in time. 

"Hey, Zeb," Ezra says, looking over at the lasat, smiling. 

"What?" He asks, annoyed.

"Be careful. Don't wanna carry your body out, yeah?" Zeb scoffs, but Ezra sees, and feels, a quick flash of fear come from the older man. Ezra peaks between crates, the small gap abling him to see how the stormtroopers had put themselves between the rebels and the wookiees. He grumbles and looks at the crew, trying their best to keep their arms and blasters up. 

"What are we going to do?" Sabine yells over the blaster fire. Ezra looks at Kanan and realizes that none of the rebels have a new plan, even though Kanan is the  _king_ of new plans. He scolds the man and stands up. 

"I'll cover you guys. Sabine, get the cuffs off the wookiees." He pulls a lock-picker from his pocket and tosses it to Sabine. "Kanan, cover me. Zeb, make sure none of the younger wookiees runoff." 

"What are you going to do?" Zeb yells but starts to move towards the wookiees anyways along with Sabine. When he doesn't reply, Kanan asks.

"Ezra?" He looks at the three.

"What I have to." Kanan immediately knows and tries to stop him, but Zeb and Sabine look at each other questioningly. Standing up, Ezra walks around the crates and puts himself between the rebels and the stormtroopers, more coming from the facility, along with Agent Kallus. He holsters his blaster and dodges blaster fire, a quick blast of heat every two seconds on his face, and walks towards the troopers. 

Kallus holds up a hand, confused and interested in what he is going to do. Reaching behind his back at his waist, he pulls his lightsaber out, igniting it. Everybody holds their breath and the air stills. Kallus looks surprised, but it is quickly gone, and the troopers look at each other in confusion. 

"Focus your fire on... on the  _traitor,_ " Kallus yells. Immediately, Ezra blocks shot after shot and hopes the rebels finish quick enough to let him stop. It had been a long enough time of defense practice for him, but he wasn't going to let them do what they were to the wookiees. 

Out of his peripheral vision, he sees Sabine and Zeb dealing with the wookiees, but doesn't see any blaster fire from Kanan. Just about to turn around, and most likely get shot, he sees a blue hue come next to him and smirks as a surprised look, and also one of fear crosses Kallus' face. 

"Thought I told you to cover me!" Ezra yells, but he smiles. 

"I am!" Kanan yells back. As the troopers fire at both of them, not even looking at the wookiees, Sabine signals them that they're ready by throwing the smoke bomb between Kanan, Ezra, and the troopers. Ezra and Kanan immediately turn off their lightsabers and run towards Sabine, Zeb, and the wookiees. As they reach the group, Zeb helping the wookiees in, Ezra feels panic coming off Zeb. 

"Zeb, what happened?" 

"One of the kids got away!" He hells, helping the last of the wookiees into the cargo container. Ezra stares at him in disbelief.

"Zeb-"

"He got scared! One of the troopers spotted him and he started running!" He looked at Ezra, panic visible in his eyes. Ezra sighs in anger. 

"I'll find him. Sabine, track my COM's signature." Sabine nods and climbs into the container, following Zeb, as Kanan follows the two inside, shutting it. 

"Hera," He speaks into his COM. "It's time. They need the pickup." 

"What about you?"

"I have a Wookiee to pick up. Sabine's tracking my COM's signal." 

"Alright. Coming in for pickup." 

With protection from the smoke bomb still helping the rebels, Ezra is able to sneak past them and find the lost Wookiee, cornered by a stormtrooper. 

"Hey!" Ezra yells, making sure both the trooper and the Wookiee hears him. The trooper turns around and trains his blaster on him, but Ezra can tell that he was shaking. "Walk away! Or I'll make sure you know what it's like to work down there!" He nods his head to the bottom of the mines, the fall nearly hundreds of feet. The trooper raises his blaster to Ezra, making sure the shot will go through him. Ezra sighs. "Fine." Ezra sticks his hand out before the trooper can fire and lifts them off the ground, throwing them behind Ezra, knocking him unconscious long enough for Ezra and the young Wookiee to get out. 

"Going somewhere, traitor?" Ezra tenses as he hears Kallus' voice. "I lost you once. It  _won't_ happen again." Ezra puts on a stoic face before turning around.

"You say that, but you will."

"Two men playing with lightsabers. You don't find a pair like that much these days. And it seems as if you have made friends with those  _rebels."_

"I don't know where you get your delusions, Kallus. But I work alone." The hairs on the back of Ezra's neck stand up as the  _Ghost_ flies up to his left, startling both Kallus and him. 

"Not this time! Kid, jump!" Ezra quickly grabs the Wookiee, pushing Kallus away, and jumps onto the hull of the  _Ghost._ Kanan quickly grabs him, pulling him into the  _Ghost_ from the emergency hatch on top. Closing it, he COM's Hera to tell her she can leave the atmosphere. 

"Come on, Kitwar," Ezra whispers to the young Wookiee, setting him down. "Let's go join the group, yeah? Let's go see Wullffawarro." The Wookiee growls in agreement, smiling. The three go towards the airlock where the Wookiees had stayed until Kanan and Ezra got back with Wullffawarro's son, Kitwar. 

When they reach the group, Kitwar immediately spots his father and growls, gaining his attention. He waves his arms and runs over to the ladder, sliding down it, and runs over to his father. 

Ezra smiles as Wullffawarro embraces his son, but a memory of his father hugging him before he was shot plays through his head. Kanan puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, seeing and feeling the shift in Ezra's attitude. Ezra smiles over at him and nods, saying he was fine. 

He walks away, Kanan's hand falls off his shoulder, and Ezra walks towards the nose turret. As he walks into the room, the blue space speeding past them as they go through hyperspace to get the Wookiees to an area they could go home. 

Ezra sits on the chair and lays his head back, sighing.  

"I thought you'd be excited to go home," Ezra scoffs, turning his head towards Sabine, the young Mandalorian sneaking into the small space. 

"The wookiees gone?" Ezra questions. Sabine nods.

"Just left. Kitwar was asking for you. Wanted to tell you 'thank you'." Sabine leans against the chair, crossing her arms as she looks out at open space.

"For what?" Ezra asks, generally curious. His confused face looks at her astonished face. 

"For saving him?" 

"We all did." 

"You did." 

"I just got him home." 

"You saved him!"

"I can't save anyone! Not even myself! How could have I saved Kitwar?" Ezra says before he can stop himself. Sabine looks at him, both surprised and scared. 

"You can't mean that," She says, shaking her head. 

"Sabine, my time at the Empire wasn't a good one." He doesn't even look at her face, afraid that she'll see him for who he truly was-is. Who he truly is. "I hurt people. I  _killed_ people." Ezra was afraid he'd start crying, so he just stayed quiet.

"Do you regret it?" She asks, voice quiet. Ezra nods. "Then you didn't just kill them, Ezra. You were given orders to do so. You were just following orders. Just being a good little soldier." She spits, the words seeming as if they were venom on her tongue.

"I still have blood on my hands, Sabine. I can't change that. You can't change that. No matter how hard you, or I, try."

"You're right. We can't change the past. But we can try to change the future." She looks over at him, smiling. Ezra doesn't look at her. "Ezra," She says, finally gaining his attention. The boy looks at her with empty eyes and an emotionless face. "We're leaving for Lothal soon. You have time to think."

"About what?"

"Whether or not you want to change your future." Walking out of the small space, leaving Ezra to his thoughts, neither of the two had noticed Hera above them, listening to the two as they talk. She sighs, walking of the cockpit to find Kanan. 

Knocking on Kanan's door, it opens. She watches as Kanan continues to meditate. 

"What's wrong with Ezra? Since he left us with the wookiees, I haven't been able to sense him at all. He's cut himself off."

"He's doubting himself. Kanan, you have to go talk to him. Before it's too late." She pleads, still standing at the door's entrance.

"He doesn't want to talk to me." Hera watches as his shoulders slump a little. Living with him for so long, she knows exactly how he's feeling. 

"Kanan, you're the only one who will be able to get through to him." 

"How?" He asks, finally opening his eyes to meet hers. 

"You both saw someone you loved die. You both had to do things to survive. You're both... _you._ " Kanan sighs, shaking his head. "You need to talk to him. I'm about to enter hyperspace. You have until we reach Lothal." As she leaves, Kanan sighs, knowing he has to at least try. Rising from his spot, legs a little numb, he makes his way towards the nose turret. 

"Ezra?" He asks, making his presence known.

"Not now, Kanan. Please." Ezra says, voice almost...  _defeated._

"Ezra...look. I know what it's like. Believe me."

"How?" He asks, voice choking. "How could  _you_ know what it's like to be torn from what you called a home? To watch as people you cared about and people you don't even know killed in front of you or by your own hand? How could you know what it's like to be all alone having a bounty on your head?" Kanan walks closer to the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder, closing his eyes. 

"Because I was you." Ezra gasps as images flash through his head. A child, no younger than him, watches as a woman is blasted to death, telling the boy to run. He watches as the boy steal a ship, going through hyperspace as the Holocron in his hand plays a message too late and is attacked by stormtroopers in the space outside of a planet, the word  _Courasaunt_ in his subconscious. He watches as the boy rejects a Kalleran named Janus, who had offered him a crew and a home. Kanan lifts his hand off Ezra's shoulder and takes a deep breath. "Just because we did not experience them in the same way, it does not mean we did not experience them. We mean well, Ezra when we say we want you to be a part of our crew. Our  _family_." Ezra turns and steps off the seat, looking at Kanan. 

"I have no family." Walking out of the room, Ezra goes to the room he shared with Kanan. Holding back tears, he starts to gather the things he brought and leaves behind the things he was given. 

~+~+~+~+~+~

Landing on Lothal, Hera sighs, turning towards Kanan. 

"Did you talk to him?" The man nods solemnly. "Kanan, you have to try!"

"Try? I've already  _tried_ Hera!"

"Well try harder!" She yells, making Kanan looked at her in shock. 

"Fine." He relents. 

~+~+~+~+~

Ezra slides down the ladder of the  _Ghost_ into the cargo bay. He smiles at Chopper, the poor droid getting fixed by Sabine, the damage from the attack still not quite fixed. The droid waves at him with his arm and Ezra nods, but then turns away, not even glancing at Sabine, the girl frowning. Going up to Zeb, he says like he has to say some sort of goodbye.

"See you around?" Ezra says, crossing his arms. Zeb laughs.

"Not if we see you first." He punches Ezra's arm, earning a small grunt from the boy. 

"Unlikely," He says, turning towards the open cargo bay door, wanting to rub the spot Zeb had punched him. His hands twitch, but years of learning the hard way made them stay where they were. Zeb looks at him, saddened by the coldness of the boy. Sabine and Zeb's head turn towards Kanan as he slides down the ladder. Before Ezra got too far, Kanan called out to him.

"You're just going to leave?" The two stand just outside of the  _Ghost._ Just far enough that neither Sabine nor Zeb could hear the two. "Thought you'd at least stay a little longer." Ezra scoffs. 

"I told you. I work alone." He turns to leave, but Kanan stops him.

"I know that's what you want to think, kid, but you and I know that you're running." Ezra flinches, clenching his jaw. "You're just running now like you did when your parents-" Kanan swallows the next words due to the fact there was a lightsaber at his throat. 

"Pick your next works  _very carefully,_ Jarrus," Ezra says, voice low and menacing. Kanan stares at him with a blank face. He knows he's walking on thin ice, but he needs Ezra at his most vulnerable to get the idea of people supporting him through his (very) thick skull. There may have been a better way to do this, but they didn't exactly have the time. 

"You think that being alone will protect you."

"It will. It has. Alone is what I have. It protects me."

"Friends and family protect each other, Ezra." Ezra takes away the lightsaber from Kanan's throat, guessing he won't go that far. 

"Last time I check, we are neither friends nor family." Kanan scoffs.

"Last time  _I_ checked _,_  we were." 

"What Lothal grass have you been eating? I work alone. Always have, always will." 

"I don't believe you."

"I don't care." Ezra turns to leave, but ducks as a lightsaber is swung at his head. Turning to look at Kanan, he sees the man smirking in ready position. Ezra growls. "Karabast! What the blast Jarrus!"

"Fight. If I win, you stay. If I lose, you can leave." Ezra laughs, standing up.

"I don't make deals with people when I know I'll win." Kanan smiles.

_I've got him._

"So sure?" Ezra scoffs.

"You know what, I've got nothing better to do. And I'm a little rusty." Rolling his head around, he places the small backpack he was carrying near a rock. He grabs his lightsaber and ignites it. "Let's do this." As Ezra stands in ready position, Kanan stands up, lifting the saber to his face. Ezra does the same and the two return to their original positions. The two circle each other, wanting to see who would make the first move. Kanan smirks as Ezra jumps at him. Blocking his attack, which was much stronger than Kanan anticipated, he shoves Ezra to the side. He quickly rolls and gets back on his feet.

Now it was Kanan's turn. 

Running towards Ezra, Kanan switches his saber to his left while both of his hands are on his lightsaber and when he is just about to strike diagonally from the right, he grabs his blaster and fires at the boy. Ezra easily blocks the shots and jumps to the side, avoiding the swing Kanan prepared. He pulls the blaster from his hand and throws it...  _somewhere_...

Ezra smirks.

"That all you got?" Kanan laughs mockingly.

"I'm just warming up."  Kanan runs at him, faking one swing for another and ends up with the higher ground, pushing his saber against Ezra's. Struggling to keep from Kanan from pushing on him, Ezra turns off his lightsaber and rolls to the side, narrowly dodging Kanan's lightsaber. Quickly getting back up, he tries to kick Kanan low, but he jumps. He tries to kick his middle, but he dodges that too. So, Ezra kicks high, but fakes it, going middle so instead of Kanan pulling his torso back, he pulls his head back, leaving his middle exposed. Landing the kick, Ezra smirks as Kanan's saber is deactivated and he falls with one knee on the ground. 

"I've won."

"Not quite!" Ezra's eyes widen as he quickly does a 180 and blocks two shots coming from Sabine. He looks back at Kanan, the man smiling as he rises. "This is cheating! You said just you!"

"In fights, nothing is really considered  _cheating_ , Ezra." Ezra groans.

"Fine." Ezra lifts his hand up and Sabine drops her blasters, clawing at her throat. "You wanna play dirty? I'll play dirty." Kanan's eyes widen, realizing what he had just done. Yelling, he goes for the boy, but Ezra stops him, using the Force to also put him in a Force chokehold. He throws the two towards the  _Ghost_ and releases the hold. "You cannot fight dirty when you do not know what dirty is." Ezra walks towards his bag and picks it up. Slinging it over his shoulder, with his tower in his sights, he walks away. Before he gets too far, he looks back at the  _Ghost_ crew, seeing that Hera had joined a very worried Zeb, making sure Kanan and Sabine were okay. 

"Good luck saving the universe." And with that, he waved to the four and continued his walk to the tower.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

When Ezra arrives at the tower, already up the rising platform, he knows something is wrong. Hand reaching towards his side, he pulls his lightsaber from where it was hanging and hovers his finger over the ignition button. Closing his eyes, he senses for any lifeforms, but can't find any. Inching towards the door, he opens it but stays to the side in case any blaster fire was to meet him. When none comes, he pokes his head around the corner. Making sure nobody is in the tower, he creeps into the small, darkened space. Walking into the room, he looks around, still on edge. Spinning around, he ignites his saber and the tip almost meets the skin of someone's throat. 

"Blast, Kanan!" Ezra yells, panting, lowering his lightsaber. 

"Sorry, I spook you?" He asks, trying to hold his laughter back. Ezra groans and walks towards the makeshift bed. Finally able to control his breathing, he looks up at Kanan, glaring.

"I thought you left." 

"I thought you had common sense." 

"That doesn't make sense." Making a face, Ezra pulls the chair from his desk with the Force and puts it in front of his bed, gesturing for Kanan to sit. He shakes his head.

"I'm good, thank you." Ezra shrugs. "Ezra, please. Being alone isn't going to help-"

"Kanan, I've told you. I can't endanger you and the others just because I'm 'lonely'." Ezra rolls his eyes, making air quotes. "And you know what? I'm not. And you know what, I have better things to do. So, what do you want?" Ezra says, glaring at the man. 

"Fine. One last time, I'm offering you a choice. You can stay here, cooped up in your tower, or go home to your cats. Or, you can join us. Join me. You can learn what it means to be a Jedi  who helps people or you can forever see yourself as the Sith who has killed people."

"There are no more Jedi. The Empire has wiped them all out." Kanan shakes his head, looking at the boy sadly. 

"Not all of us." And with that, Kanan turns around and walks out the door. 

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

"So, what did he say?" Hera asks as Kanan walks into the cockpit. Kanan looks at her and sits down in his chair. 

"No." Hera's face falls. 

"I thought you'd be able to get through to him." She replies sadly. She starts to ready the  _Ghost_ for take off so Kanan and she could go see Vizago for their next little 'pick-up'.  "I guess I was wrong." Kanan shakes his head.

"No, you weren't wrong. I do think I got through to him, but he just doesn't want to go there yet. He's afraid." Kanan looks at the tower sadly. 

"Of what?"

"Himself."

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

As Ezra steps outside of his tower and watches the ship take off, he sighs. 

_I'm doing the right thing. I know I am. I'm protecting them._

**_YoUR'E ProTeCtiNg YouRSelF_ **

Ezra yells, clutching his head. Dropping to his knees, the voice yells in his head.

**_ITs aLl YoU EvER DO_ **

"No!" He yells. He needs to stop the voice, but he doesn't know how. Unable to rise, he stays in the position as he cries. Although the voice left, he can hear it whispering to him. 

Suddenly, a wave of relaxation washes over him and the voice all together fades. In his exhausted and weak state, Ezra doesn't have the energy to sense who it was, but it gives him a push of energy and the boy rises, walking back into the tower, and lays on the makeshift bed. The presence coaxes him to sleep and Ezra goes willingly. 

And back at the  _Ghost,_ just before they land near Vizago's camp, Kanan smiles as Ezra drifts off to sleep. 


	15. Chapter 15

"Citizens, this is Senator-in-exile Gall Trayvis. I bring more news the Empire doesn't want you to hear. One of the Republic's greatest peacekeepers, Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, is alive. She has been imprisoned unlawfully somewhere in the Stygeon system. As citizens, we demand the Emperor produce Master Unduli and grant her a fair trial before the entire Sen---"

And before he could speak anymore, the interruption from the Senator (in exile) was cut off, the Empire able to cut his connection. "Marking another successful planetary liberation utilizing the Base Delta Zero initiative." Hera turns the holonet off, knowing none of the rebels want to hear what they have to say. She looks over at Kanan, studying the hidden sadness on his face. 

"What do you say, love? Do you think we should try?" She watches as Kanan ponders the short information given before it was cut off. 

"Did you know this Luminara person?" Zeb questions, gaining the man's attention before he could respond to Hera. He nods solemnly. 

"I met her. Once. She was a great Jedi Master brave, compassionate, disciplined. There've always been rumors she survived the Clone Wars, but they never came with a specific location before. We can't pass this up." He looks at Hera as she nods. 

"I thought you would say that. I'll go set course for the Stygeon system. The rest of you, go prep for an op." The three rebels nod as Chopper follows Hera, the two going off to the Ghost's cockpit. As Sabine and Zeb exit the commons, Kanan's attention is turned back to Hera as she calls him. "Do you think it could be a trap, Kanan?" Kanan goes to reply but stops himself. He rethinks his answer.

"Most likely." 

"So we're going straight into a trap?" Kanan shrugs. "Couldn't we ask Ezra if she-"

"No." Hera looks at him in surprise. The quick no had cut her off before she even finished her sentence. "We need to give him time. He's been through a lot these past few days." Hera nods in understanding. 

"Alright. Jumping into hyperspace."

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

As the Phantom enters the atmosphere of Stygeon Prime, carefully making its way to the Spire, the Specters come up with a plan.

"Since this is the only Imperial detainment facility in the Stygeon system, it's impregnable," Sabine states, pulling up a map of the facility from Chopper.

"That's never stopped us before," Kanan says smugly.

"Yeah," Sabine laughs. "Trust me. We haven't faced anything like this before. It's a work of art. Blast proof, ray shielded, protected by anti-ship weapons, TIE fighters and short and long range scanners. Even if we get in, there's probably a slim chance we'll get out."

"Is this even worth it, Kanan?" Zeb asks, looking at the man. "How do we even know this Luminara person is here?" Kanan sighs, closing his eyes. Zeb is about to ask what he's doing, but Sabine elbows him, telling him to shut it. Opening his eyes, Kanan looks confused. 

"Luminara's here. I sense her presence, but," He shakes his head. "t's clouded." Zeb sighs.

"Fine. Then what's the plan?" Chopper makes a few beeps, gaining Sabine's attention. 

What about going in low and sneaking onto a landing platform?

"Chopper, platforms are heavily guarded. There's heavy trooper presence and reinforced blast doors. Impossible to get in or out that way." 

"Mmm, well, Chopper may be onto something," Kanan says, scratching his goatee. "Look." He points toward a spot on the map while Chopper makes a haha noise at Sabine. "There's only room for a couple guards. We take them down, make our way to the upper-level isolation cells, free Luminara and come back out the way we came in." Chopper then makes the haha noise at Kanan, a few beeps following.

"Chopper's right, Kanan. You'd have to be crazy to try that lousy plan." Kanan smiles.

"Let's hope the Empire thinks that too." 

~+~+~+~+~+~

"I'm in!" Sabine calls, finally being able to pick through the blast door's lock. As Kanan and Zeb place the troopers against the wall, making it look like they were standing, Zeb barley just misses the searchlight. Quickly getting through the door before it shuts, the Ghost crew heads inside. 

"Alright, you know the plan. Chopper?" The droid rolls forward and plugs into the facilities log system. After a few seconds, he makes confirmation beeps, then followed by almost worried ones.

"Chopper says Luminara is here, but she's on the lower levels. Detention block CC-01. Isolation cell 0169."

"The lower levels? I made the plan off outdated schematics! Blast!" 

"Uh, what does that mean?" Zeb asks, worried. 

"It means we have a new plan. Follow me." 

"But our escape route!" Sabine calls after Kanan, the man quietly running towards the lift. 

"Now the turbolift is our escape route. Let's go." He waves them inside. As the doors shut, Sabine sighs and looks at Zeb. 

"His plan gets worse all the time."

"Just hope he doesn't change it again." 

"You know I'm standing right here, right?"

"We know," The two answer in unison. 

As Kanan exits the turbolift, he turns back towards the three other Spectors. "Maintain COM silence and whatever you have to do, hold this lift!" The two nod and grab their blasters. "Chopper, you're with me." The droid groans, but follows Kanan anyways. 

Nearing the cell, Kanan quietly walks up to the two guards. Waving his hand, he's able to use the Force before they could either shoot or alert the facility.

"Shouldn't you be guarding the Jedi's cell? It's on the next level." One of the guards repeats him in a monotone voice.

"It's on the next level."

"You should get going," Kanan finishes.

"We should get going," The two runoff, leaving the only people in the area Kanan and Chopper. 

"Chopper, you're up." The droid beeps and rolls towards the door, unlocking it. Kanan quickly runs in to see Luminara sitting on the bench, her small form taking up little space. Her blue eyes are bright, but she doesn't seem to show any emotion.

"Master?" He asks suspiciously, but all she does is walk back to an isolation chamber. Kanan gasps in horror as her alive form fades away and all that's left is her sunken in face, her eyes closed. "I- I don't understand," Kanan speaks to himself, not sensing the new visitor behind him. 

"No? It doesn't seem complicated." Kanan turns around and watches as the Sith he had only seen a few times stands right in front of him. "I am the Inquisitor. Welcome." He smiles evilly as he ignites his red saber and the door shuts behind him. Kanan hadn't heard Chopper give him a warning, so he must have gone to either warn Sabine and Zeb, or he had been sliced in half. Kanan hoped it wasn't the latter because Hera would have his head if the Inquisitor didn't get it. "Yes, I'm afraid Master Luminara died with the Republic. But her bones continue to serve the Empire luring the last Jedi to their ends." He says with false pity in his voice, still keeping Kanan trapped. "To your end," Kanan smirks. 

"I don't think so." He presses the device's button in his hand and the Inquisitor looks over at the door, realizing the Jedi had put a bomb on the door. The Inquisitor gets out of the way, not wanting to get too hurt by the bomb, as it goes off. Kanan takes the small window right after it goes off and escapes, leaving the Inquisitor in the smoke. 

Running to the rendezvous, Kanan tries his best to put distance between him and the Inquisitor. Even before he reaches the lift, the Inquisitor starts the lockdown sequence. Running a little faster, Kanan's able to make it to the lift before the last door shuts. Spotting Sabine and Zeb, he yells at the two.

"Figure out it was a trap?"

"Yep. Luminara?" Sabine asks.

"Long gone."

"What's our plan?" Sabine asks frantically. Kanan looks at her and enters the lift.

"This lift," Pressing the button to the landing platform.

"What?!" Sabine says, surprised. "That's one of the most heavily guarded spots of the facility! You're crazy thinking we can escape through there!" Kanan readies his saber and smiles. 

"Let's hope the Empire does too." 

Exiting the lift and going to the left, they go through a blast door, Sabine being able to hack it open. Quickly entering the isolated platform, it's cut off from the outside. Zeb turns around and blasts the control panel to the blast door they entered through, frying it.

"I'll try to get the blast doors open," Sabine offers, running over to the controls. Open the panel, or trying to anyways, Sabine yelps. "It shocked me!" Before Kanan could reply, a red lightsaber starts to cut through the blast door. 

"Kanan!" Zeb yells, gaining the man's attention towards the door. "What are we gonna do?" 

"We have to get this door open somehow," Kanan says, trying not to panic a little. Pacing, he jumps at the voice that appears next to him.

"Maybe I could help?"


	16. Chapter 16

"Kanan!" Zeb yells, gaining the man's attention towards the door. "What are we gonna do?"

"We have to get this door open somehow," Kanan says, trying not to panic a little. Pacing, he jumps at the voice that appears next to him.

"Maybe I could help?" The three Specters freeze. 

"Ezra?" Kanan feels something like a feather quickly touch his shoulder. Turning around in surprise, he comes face to face with the young boy. "How...What...When?" Kanan tries, trying to put the possibilities together as to why Ezra was here.

"I'm here to save your heads. Now, help me get the blast door open before the Inquisitor opens you." Blanking, Kanan nods.

"Yeah, okay. Questions later." Raising his hand, Kanan concentrates on opening the door. Ezra, doing the same, the two try their best. While they try to get it open, Sabine contacts Hera.

"Specter-5 to Phantom, requesting a pickup on the landing platform."

"Copy. And I'm bringing the fleet."

"The fleet? We have a fleet?" Zeb asks, using his own COM. 

"We do now," Hera says. Both Sabine and Zeb could hear the smirk in her voice. 

"Ezra?" Kanan strains, worried.

"Hold on..." 

Creak, groooooaaan. 

"Let's go!"Kanan yells.

As the two open the rest of the blast door, they freeze. Roughly three dozen troopers were on the platform. All of them trained their blasters on the rebels. Kanan turns around and watches as the Inquisitor cuts through the rest of the door.

"I'll deal with him," Ezra yells, gaining Kanan's attention. "You deal with them!" Igniting his saber, the right side of Ezra's body glows red. He starts to walk towards the Inquisitor as the rebels find cover.

"Phantom, you coming?"Kanan asks, ducking he feels blaster fire go by his face. Gaining no response, he growls. Putting away his COM, he peaks over the box the rebels were hiding behind. Suddenly, the Phantom comes into view with... other creatures. "Sabine, Zeb. Let's go!" Kanan quickly ignites his saber and deflects any incoming blaster fire. The Phantom fires on the TIEs as the creatures also attack. As the Phantom quickly lowers to the platform for the Specters to jump on, Kanan takes a look backs at the Inquisitor. Ezra was nowhere in sight. "Go, go, go!" He yells to Hera as the Inquisitor throws his saber at the ship. Kanan deflects it and turns, going into the ship before he fell out. 

~+~+~+~+~+~

Attaching the Phantom to the Ghost, the Specters exit, dragging their feet as they head towards their respective rooms. Well, except for Hera and Kanan.

"Kanan, I saw someone else on that platform not shooting at you. Who was that?" Hera sits on one side of the couch in the commons, Kanan sits on the other. 

"It was Ezra." He sighs, rubbing his face. 

"Ezra? Why was he there? Do you think he knew we were going to save her? Did he set us up?" Hera questions, worry filling her voice.

"No," Kanan says, cutting her off. "He wasn't actually there. It was like...a ghost of him or something? I don't know how to describe it." Standing up, Hera walks over to Kanan and puts a hand on his shoulder. 

"Well, whatever it was, make sure to thank him." Letting her hand fall, she turns towards the door but stops as it opens. "Luminara?"

"Gone. Already dead. Just another puppet for the empire." Hera nods and goes to the cockpit to put in coordinates for Lothal for their next job. Kanan waits until the door is shut to stand and go to his room. Walking in, he feels something else there.

"Ezra?" He says, looking around for the boy. When he doesn't hear or see anything, he sighs, grumbling a "Fine," before going to his meditation seat. Getting into a comfortable position, he sighs and closes his eyes, going into a meditative state. 

"About time," Ezra says. "Thought you'd never come to say hi." Kanan opens his eyes to look at the boy across from him, leaning on the wall. 

"Well, you're not the easiest to contact." Ezra laughs, nodding. 

"Yeah, it's like that when you got to keep a low profile." 

"Chopper misses you," Kanan says, watching him closely. "That says quite a lot if you think about it."

"I'm not coming back, Kanan. I'm just going to put a larger target on your guy's back."

"Larger than the one we already have? Ezra, what happened before? You were going to stay." Kanan questions, trying his best to get through to him. 

"I realized I couldn't."

"Why?"

"It isn't safe."

"For who?"

"You guys."

"Yes, it is, Ezra. We're not dangered around you. If anything we're safer."

"Stop," Ezra growls, glaring at Kanan. "I know what you're doing. It isn't going to work. I just came to see if you guys made it. You did so-"

"Ezra, you're not a weapon," Kanan says, standing up. 

"What?" He looks at him incredulously. 

"Nobody here hates you, Ezra. If anything, we understand. You can't keep running, Ezra. It's not going to end well." 

"I-I can't," Ezra tries to come up with an excuse, but he can't. 

"You can, but it's your choice. You're not alone, Ezra. At least know that. We'll be back on Lothal by sundown. You know where. It's your choice. If you don't come, I won't ask again. I promise. Just know I am here for you Ezra. I won't be leaving anytime soon." Ezra nods and his force image disappears and Kanan sighs, rubbing his head. Walking towards his bed, he sits down. 

"Please, Ezra."

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

As sunset came and Kanan sat on the ramp of the Ghost with the rest of the crew as they waited for Ezra. 

"You really think he'll come?" Hera asks, keeping her eyes on the horizon for the boy. 

"Honestly? I don't know." As they sit there, the sun goes below the horizon and it starts to get dark.

"Well, I'm heading in. I'll see if he came or not tomorrow." Zeb says, turning in for the night. Sabine agrees and follows close behind. 

"Kanan?" 

"Go, get some sleep. I'm gonna stay and wait for him." Hera nods and stands up placing a hand on Kanan's shoulder and giving the horizon one last look before going to her room. Kanan sighs and leans back on his hands as he watches for Ezra. 

~+~

When Kanan wakes up, he doesn't quite remember when he went to his room last night.

Wait

He didn't

Then how... Then he hears it. A ruffling of sheets above him as Ezra shifts in the bed above him. Smiling, Kanan gets up from bed and quietly makes his way towards the door, making sure to try his best to exit quietly. Walking towards the kitchen, he finds Hera already up with coffee. When he enters, Hera looks up at him and smiles.

"Morning, love. Coffee is already made."

"Morning, thank you." Filling up his cup and sitting down across from Hera, she lifts an eyebrow.

"So?" Kanan smiles and nods.

"He came. Hopefully, he's staying." 

Peaceful silence and coffee. A great way to start off the day, no?


	17. Chapter 17

"Ezra, I think it's time you get a lightsaber."

"I already have one,"

"Ok, let me rephrase that. I think it's time you get a Jedi lightsaber."

"Oh."

The interaction between the two had occurred this morning after the Ghost crew got briefed about an assignment that they were doing in a few days and are going to figure out their plan. For the time being, they were on Lothal. Kanan had gotten his Holocron back from Ezra, having to ask for it, and looked for a Jedi temple near Lothal. Surprisingly, he had found one on Lothal. It was now lunch and Ezra was prepping the Phantom and has no clue where they were going. Finishing, he calls for Kanan on the COM.

"You ready to go?" Kanan asks, passing Ezra and walking into the Phantom.

"You still haven't told me where we're going." He says, walking in behind Kanan and sitting down. Kanan detaches the Phantom from the Ghost and starts to head East. Putting it in autopilot, Kanan stands from the pilot's seat and walks over to Ezra. Sitting down across from the boy, he smiles.

"Well, that's what you're going to tell me. When I was your age," Ezra chuckles, but Kanan continues. "There were around 10,000 Jedi Knights defending the galaxy. Now, we are few. But in those days, we had small outposts, temples spread throughout the stars. The Empire sought out these temples and destroyed many of them, but not all. I want you to meditate, let the Force guide you to one of them." Ezra scoffs.

"Kanan, I was part of the Empire. You know this. The entire crew knows this. If there was a temple on Lothal, I would probably know." Kana smirks.

"Alright then, prove me wrong. If I am, we don't have to go to the temple to get you a new crystal. If I'm right, we go." Ezra scoffs, mumbling a, "whatever," before he closes his eyes. Kanan sits there and watches the boy concentrate. He feels Ezra's walls lower and lower, but then they shoot back up as he opens his eyes, sighing.

"So?" Kanan asks, smiling. Ezra opens his mouth to answer but then starts to glare at Kanan.

"You knew the whole time!" He accuses throwing his hands up. Kanan starts to laugh as he stands up to go to the pilot's seat.

"Disengaging autopilot. We should be there in a few minutes." Ezra groans and stands up to rest his arms on Kanan's headrest.

"So, did you take the test when you were my age?" Ezra asks, looking straight ahead at the open plains of Lothal.

"It was different for me, Ezra. Everything was different back then. All that remains now is the Force."

"Yeah, whatever," Ezra mumbles, keeping his eyes straight.

"What's with you? You're more... down since I told you to look for the temple. Is there something you aren't telling me, Ezra?" He feels Ezra's walls completely raise immediately as Ezra tenses. Kanan doesn't say anything, hoping the boy will tell him.

"It's just... I don't care that much if I have my red lightsaber still..." Ezra says quietly, making sure not to look at Kanan. "I know it's a Sith's saber, but technically-"

"You're not a Sith, Ezra."

"Yes, I am. I've killed hundreds of innocent people, I've done things-"

"Did you want to?" Ezra looks down at him, confused.

"What?"

"Did you want to kill those people? Does it make you happy to kill?" Images of what happened when the crew went on the job for the T-7 Ion Disruptors flash through his head and how he felt.

"No," He forces out, knowing that it wasn't quite true, but true enough to keep Kanan from asking more questions.

"Then we're staying because," Ezra looks up at the mountain in front of them. "We're here."  
———————-

Getting out of the Phantom, Ezra couldn't quite figure out how they were going to get inside.   
"How do we get inside?" He asks, turning to Kanan.

"That's for you to figure out. And you better hurry, we have to be back by sundown." Ezra sighs and walks over to the mountain. He walks around it and looks for a physical entrance to the temple. Out of his peripheral, he watches Kanan sit crosslegged on the ground and start to meditate. He sighs, rolling his eyes. Walking around the temple once more, Ezra starts to get frustrated. 

"Kanan, a little help here?" He yells, watching the mountain for any signs of movement. 

"Don't look, listen! Use the Force to hear the stone and its story." Suddenly, it clicks in Ezra's head. 

He silently lets out an, "Oh," before relaxing and walking to where the 'front' of the mountain was. Placing his hands on the mountain, he listens. "It wants... me. To come to the light? It wishes for... us to enter, though?" Ezra opens his eyes, looking over his shoulder at Kanan. 

"Then together it shall be." Standing, Kanan walks forward as Ezra walks backward and they meet in the middle. Following Kanan's lead, the two put their hands out and close their eyes, concentrating on the temple. Suddenly, the ground under them starts to shake and the mountain begins to rise slowly. Kanan and Ezra open their eyes and watch the entrance of the temple come into view. 

"Woah," He breathes, the mountain now three times its height than it was before. 

"Come on, we need to get inside. And Ezra," Kanan looks over at the boy. "Don't lose focus." Ezra looks at him confused, but they both begin to walk into the temple. Getting deeper, Ezra thinks that the hallway is ever going to end until they exit the hallway into a large room. Looking over to his right, Ezra curses and the temple shakes lightly. Kanan chuckles lightly. "I told you not to lose focus." Ezra rolls his eyes, stepping subtly towards Kanan. 

"Well, dead guys are distracting." Kanan nods, looking at the dead bodies sadly. 

"These are masters whos padawans never returned," He said solemnly. 

"Wait, we could actually die here?" The temple began to tremble and Kanan cautiously looks over at Ezra. 

"No, because I know that you can get through the trials because you are strong enough, Ezra." Kanan walks towards the other side of the room where another door opening is. Just before he reaches it, he kneels into a meditative position. 

"Wait, what are you doing?" Ezra asks although he's pretty sure he already knows the answer. 

"I can't go with you. This is a path you must walk alone." Ezra starts to walk towards the opening, feeling something inside pulling him in. He stops right beside Kanan, hesitating. 

"You're putting your life in my hands?" He asks, worried.

"You've put your trust in mine. Although not a lot, enough that I give you mine." Kanan looks up at Ezra and the young boy nods at him. Nodding back, Kanan looks at the door, not at Ezra, and so the boy walks towards it. After just passing completely inside, the entrance begins to get cut off. 

"Wait, what am I supposed to look for?!" Ezra asks suddenly, turning around to look at Kanan. 

"Nothing and everything," Kanan says, quickly enough for Ezra to give him a snarky reply. 

"That doesn't help!" Ezra says, just before the door shuts. Before it closes completely, though, he hears only part of Kanan's reply. 

"I know..." And the door is completely shut. "But that's what my master told me." He sighs and starts to meditate. 

On the other side of the door, Ezra hasn't moved from the spot yet, still confused. "Thanks, Kanan." He says, rolling his eyes. Taking a deep breath, Ezra tries his best to relax. "Alright then, I guess I follow the temple." Turning around, Ezra begins to walk the only pathway of the temple available to him. Smooth stone quickly turns into jagged rocks. Warily, Ezra continues, watching the entire area to make sure nothing pops out. 

Soon, he comes to the end of the pathway and it opens into a large area with three other ways to go. "Wonderful," Ezra says, rolling his eyes. "Should've brought the Holocron. Loth-rat, Loth-cat, Loth-wolf, run. Pick a path and all is done."

"Is that really how you're going to do it?" Ezra jumps, quickly reaching for his saber as he turns around. Before he grabs it though, the owner of the voice clicks.

"Kanan?" Ezra knows he sees Kanan. He can sense him too, but something feels...off. 

"Come on, hurry up. We need to do this quickly. What happened to using the Force, anyway?" Kanan asks, running towards the tunnel to the far left. Ezra starts to follow him, nearly having to spring to keep up with him

"What happened to trust me?" Ezra grumbles. Not saying it quite enough, Kanan stops and turns back at him and frowns. 

"Why would I trust you?" 

"Wh-What do you mean?"Ezra stumbles, cautiously watching Kanan.

"You're nothing but a Sith," Kanan laughs as if the information is anything new and isn't surprising. "I brought you here just to try to get you to die without blood getting on my hands." He says, rolling his eyes.

"That's..." Ezra tries to think of a response, his body going cold. "No, you'd never say that. You told me you trusted me!" Ezra yells, balling his fists. He starts to walk over to Kanan, furious. "You told me you trusted me. You said you trusted me!" The walls of the temple start to shake as small stones from the ceiling and walls start to fall onto the ground, and soon, Ezra can't hold his footing. Falling to his knees, tear start to fall from Ezra's eyes. The temple starts to calm down. "You said..." Clutching his head, Kanan's voice begins to speak again. 

"You've done nothing but be a bother. You've killed. You like killing." Soon, it is no longer Kanan's voice in Ezra's head, but the Inquisitors. Ezra feels a chill go up his spine and a cold hand grabs his chin, jerking it upwards. Ezra jerks back, body shaking, out of the Inquisitor's grip, and the Inquisitor chuckles. "You'll never be a Jedi. You're nothing but a Sith. You're a machine and a weapon and that's all you will ever be." Ezra stands, still shaking.

"You're wrong!" He yells, but the words don't sound right in his mouth. "You have to be wrong," Ezra begs, but the words are desperate. He starts to walk backward, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I'm not a Sith. I never wanted to be." Still walking backward, he looks up to the Inquisitor as the man comes towards him. "You've made me this way!" Ezra yells, but suddenly, the floor under his feet disappears and he starts to fall into a pit, watching the Inquisitor above him look down at him as he falls, the last bit of light leaving his vision before he blacks out.


	18. Chapter 18

...suddenly, the floor under his feet disappears and he starts to fall into a pit, watching the Inquisitor above him look down at him as he falls, the last bit of light leaving his vision before he blacks out. 

Ezra jerks awake, sitting up. Looking around him, he seems to be back in the Ghost. Ezra realizes that he's sitting in his bed above Kanan's and that he is in his room shared with the man. "Kanan?" He calls out, wondering if he blacked out in the temple and Kanan and he was already back in the Ghost. "Kanan?" He calls out once more, looking around the small room. Ezra swings his legs to the edge of the bed and jumps off, making a small thump noise. Slowly creeping towards the door, it swings open. Ezra felt a shiver go down his spine as he passed through the door, looking at the empty hallway. Hearing his own footsteps in the still air, Ezra begins to walk towards the common room. Finally, he starts to hear voices. 

"How do you think the kid's doing?" Ezra hears Sabine asks. He walks closer towards the door and opens it, the three at the table oblivious to his entrance. 

"I don't think he'll be able to do it," Hera answers, looking towards the girl. "Only Jedi can get an actual lightsaber. And Kanan told me that if he didn't come out after sundown, he was probably dead. He seemed relieved at that. I hope he doesn't come out too."

"Yeah, who knows what a Sith like him could do to us. For all we know, he's been manipulating us this whole time."

"That's too bad, though," Sabine interjects. "He was useful. Strong. But yeah, he was just a kid; that doesn't make him any less of a murderer, though." Ezra gasps and the three finally turn towards him, realizing he was there. "Ezra!" Sabine says, surprised. 

"How long you reckon he's been standing there," Zeb asks, standing. 

"Long enough," Ezra growls. 

"Eh," Zeb says, trying to brush it off. "Nothing personal kid." Shrugging, Zeb starts to walk the opposite of Ezra, but suddenly, the Ghost shakes and the lights shut off. Turning back on, a figure was in the room. "Wha-" Before Zeb could finish, the figure pulls out its lightsaber, the red bright in the gray room, and stabs him. 

"Zeb!" Ezra calls out. Trying to pick up his feet to run to the man, Ezra can't, his feet stuck to the ground. "Zeb!" He calls out again, watching the figure start to walk towards Hera and Sabine. The figure pulls down his hood, and Ezra gasps. "No."

It was like staring in a mirror. 

Sabine and Hera's eyes were no longer trained on him but on the illusion. 

"Ezra, what are you doing," Hera asks, backing away from the figure. 

"Hera, that isn't me!" Ezra yells, but neither of the two women turns to him. 

"Ezra, don't do this!" Sabine yells. As the illusion starts to approach the 2 women, Kanan comes in through the door that Ezra had come in before.

"Ezra, stop!" Kanan yells, walking towards the illusion and tries to stop him before he kills Hera and Sabine, but he's too late. The illusion strikes down both women, their screams filling Ezra's head. "No!" Kanan yells, watching as Hera and Sabine fall to the floor. The illusion turns towards Kanan and smiles. Without saying anything, the illusion quickly strikes Kanan down. The illusion turns towards Ezra and starts to walk towards the boy and Ezra turns, finally being able to pick up his feet, and starts to run, Running out the door and through the halls, none of the Ghost crew's bedroom door's will open, traping Ezra in the hall with the illusion. Ezra reaches the end of the hall and the figure had caught up. Back against the opposite door of the common rule, Ezra reaches for his lightsaber, but his hand finds open air. The illusion, barely a foot away from Ezra, smiles. 

"I am you." It says, but Ezra thinks it doesn't sound quite human. 

"No, you're not. I would never kill them." The figure laughs. 

"What's the difference between them and everybody else you've killed?" The illusion raises its saber to strike Ezra, but before he could lower it, the door behind Ezra opens and soon he's once again falling into nothing and blacks out.


	19. Chapter 19

"Ezra, wake up!" The voice jerks Ezra awake and he looks up, his view now one of the insides of the temple. 

"Who's there?" He calls out groggily, rubbing the back of his head. Getting no reply, Ezra sits up, groaning. When he's finally able to think straight again, the fog in his head clearing, he smiles. "That's right! I'm still in the temple. Those were illusions!" Then, he rolls his eyes. "Of course they were illusions, you idiot." Sighing, Ezra stands up. "Were they?" He questions himself, thinking about the illusions given to him. "No, I'm in the temple. So is Kanan. Nobody else could have gotten in." He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "They were just illusions." Suddenly, one of the stones starts to lift behind him, revealing another hallway. Ezra freezes. 

"Those may have been illusions, boy. But I assure you, I am not." Ezra starts to back away. The Inquisitor smiles, slowly walking towards Ezra. "Your master is dead, lying rotten in a forgotten tunnel. And you're the reason he's dead." Ezra shakes, mumbling.

"No, no, no, I... I didn't kill him."

"You did. Along with the rest of your crew." The Inquisitor spits out, still advancing on the boy. "You will never be but a weapon to the Empire and a killer to the rest of the galaxy." 

"No," Ezra shakes his head. "You're lying."

"A servant to death."

"No."

"Or even, one day, death himself." 

"NO!" Suddenly, the Inquisitor starts to claw at this throat as he beings to be lifted into the air. "I will never be used as a weapon again!" Ezra's eyes begin to become yellow once more. "You will not use me! I'm," The realization comes over Ezra as he freezes. "I'm not a killer." He drops his hand and he watches as the Inquisitor gasps for air, eyes fearfully looking up at the boy. "Not anymore." The Inquisitor stands up, grabbing his lightsaber from his back.

"You should have killed me, boy!" As he ignites it, Ezra sighs and closes his eyes and whispers,

"Not anymore." The Inquisitor runs at him, blades spinning. One final yell before...

silence. 

Ezra opens his eyes and the Inquisitor was no longer in the temple. Ezra chuckles tiredly as he leans against a pillar behind him and slides down it. "It really was just illusions." He closes his eyes and drops his head. "Just illusions..." 

"Yes, just illusions they were. The darkness in you I sense, but also the light, young one." 

Ezra jerks his head up, looking for the voice. Many years of studying Jedi Holocrons in secret come back to him; he recognizes the voice. "Master Yoda?"

"Know of me, you do?" 

"I do. From the Holocrons. Some of your teachings were in there."

"Ready to continue, are you, youngling?" Ezra nods.

"Yes."

"Then follow." Ezra looks up and watches as many dots of light float away from him. He stands, captivated by the dots of light, and follows them. He jumps a little as one of the temple's door quickly slams behind him but pays no attention to it. As he is led through another hallway of the temple, he comes across another room with three hallways leading away from where he came. "Know which way to go, do you?" Ezra thinks for a second before responding. 

"I don't. Last time I just did a riddle. I was never told how to-" Before he could finish, Yoda interrupts him. 

"Tell you, someone will, hmmm? How to survive? To live?" Ezra looks over at the light, stunned.

"N-no, of course not!" He stumbles, trying to find an answer. 

"Find a way, you can. No longer a puppet, you are. No longer controlled, you are. No longer a sith, you are" Suddenly, it clicks in his head. As Ezra closes his eyes, he lifts his hand and concentrates on the area around him. As if a string was attached to his hand, he feels it pulling him forward. To the central tunnel. Opening his eyes and lowering his hand, Ezra starts to walk forwards. As he exits the hallway, the only light coming from the dots, he enters a large room with a circle inside another circle marked into the middle of the floor. He follows the lights until he is standing in the middle of the circles. As they start to emit blue light, the room darkens. Ezra drops to the ground on his knees and sits as if he was meditating. He bows his head and closes his eyes. 

"Much anger I sense in you, but much light too."

"I don't know what to do. If I can't trust myself anymore, how is the Ghost crew supposed to? How is anybody supposed to?" Ezra shakes his head, opening his eyes as he looks down at his hands. "I don't know how to not be his puppet anymore." 

"Long time, it was?" Ezra sighs. 

"Too long."

"Scared, you are?" 

"Yes."

"Of who?"

"Me."

"Why?"

"Because I was a weapon!" Ezra bursts, watching as his hands shake. "I was used to kill! I was taught nothing but what I know today! I-"

"Not true, that is. See past the lies, you have. Killed without guilt, you haven't. Too much pressure on yourself, you have. Must let go of the past, you must."

"No, I-"

"Stop it, you must. Lying, I was not. True, my words are. Believe in you, I do." Suddenly, the room becomes a light shade of purple. Ezra looks up and watches in surprise as a purple saber crystal floats towards him. He opens his hands and the saber crystal is lightly placed in them. "Believe in you, he does. Give them hope, you do." Ezra looks around and the room had turned normal again. 

The lights were gone. 

The only light in the room was the soft light coming from the crystal. Ezra stands as if he's on automatic and forward. The door opens and Ezra closes his hand around the crystal. Looking up, his eyes lock with Kanan's and smiles. He opens his hand and holds the crystal between two of his fingers. 

"I guess I have a saber to build."


End file.
